Allah's Use of Plural Pronouns - By Anthony Rogers

8/6/2019 Allah's Use of Plural Pronouns - By Anthony Rogers

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Allah's Use of Plural Pronouns:

A Survey and Critique ±

Part I

By Anthony Rogers

To keep the following series of articles from being unmanageably long and too ponderous for

readers, quotations will primarily be culled from Surahs two through seven,1

which areroughly equivalent to a fourth of the entire Qur¶an. If the number of verses that are quoted

still prove to be too daunting, the reader may safely read a few in each category to get the point, and pass on to my remarks. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations will be from

Yusuf Ali¶s translation, The Meaning of the Holy Qur¶an.2

Introduction

A very pronounced problem facing Muslims concerns the self-referential use by Allah of the plural pronouns ³We´, ³Us´ and ³Our´. At first blush these divine plurals appear to

contradict the Muslim understanding of Allah¶s unity. Whereas Muslim apologists are quick to claim that this is not really the case, even going as far as saying that such is part and parcel

of the eloquence of the Qur¶an, the claim is not so easily vindicated by the evidence.

To Translate or Not to Translate

That this practice is at least an apparent problem can be illustrated by the followingcomments from a Muslim:

« Translating the Arabic ³nahnu´ to ³we´ (when Allah is referring to himself) is « highly

problematic, not simply because the awkward use of English confuses and alienates thelistener, but more importantly, because it obscures the core message of Islam ± tawheed

...3

(Emphasis mine)

In context the author is arguing that this is an Arabic idiom similar to the r o yal we in English,the latter of which he says is now archaic. This interpretation, along with many others, will be

challenged later in this series. At this point it is important to observe the author¶s admission

that, as it stands, this manner of speaking confuses and obscures Islam¶s teaching on Allah¶sunity, i.e. t awhid . Thus the author advocates translating the Arabic word nahnu, a first person

plural pronoun, we, in the singular in order to bring it into line with what Muslims believe istaught in other places in the Qur¶an about Allah¶s unity.4



What Does It Mean?

The fact of the matter is, neither the Qur¶an nor the Hadith directly explain why Allah speaks

this way, and the proliferation of different answers on this from Muslims doesn¶t give us a

great deal of confidence that the Qur¶an supplies us with any clear and indubitable premises

from which a conclusive answer can be deduced. Accordingly, any authoritative answer thatcould be given would have to be discerned from Quranic usage. But as this series of articles

will labor to show, there does not appear to be any clearly discernible pattern to how these

terms are used by Allah. That being so the possibility of an answer coming forth from the

proponents of Islam appears to be exceedingly grim.

Three Basic Categories

The answers that have been put forward by Muslims can be categorized in the following threeways: the use of first person plurals are to be understood: 1) literally and inclusively, i.e. they

are genuine plurals and include Allah and others along with him; or 2) exclusively and

figuratively, i.e. they are used for Allah alone but are not used as genuine plurals; or 3)exclusively and literally, i.e. they refer to Allah alone and point to some kind of plurality

(albeit an impersonal plurality). These views are mutually exclusive and exhaust the range of

possible answers that could be given by Muslims. The meaning and relevance of all of this

will become more apparent as this series progresses.

Allah, Muhammad and the Angels

In an effort to resolve the problem, some Muslims have alleged that the plural pronouns are

used incl usively and refer to Allah and the angel Jibreel5

or Allah and the angels in general or

maybe even Allah, Jibreel and Muhammad. This approach attributes the first person plural

pronouns in Allah¶s speech to the fact that Allah does things through his agents; Allah says

³We´ because what Jibreel says or what the angels say and do is according to Allah¶scommand and by his power. An example of this interpretation can be found in the following

fatwa, which attributes the following to Ibn Taymiyyah:

The view of the salaf (early generations) of this ummah and of its imams and later

generations is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) heard the

Qur¶aan from Jibreel , and Jibreel heard it from Allaah. The use of plural forms in such

phrases is the style of Arabic speech used to refer to one who is of high standing and has

helpers who obey him. So if his helpers do something by his command, he says, ³we did

it´. This is like when a king says, ³We conquered this land, we defeated this army´ and

so on. Because he did that through the actions of his helpers. Allaah is the Lord of theangels and they speak not until He has spoken, and they act in accordance with His

commands; they do not disobey the commands of Allaah, rather they do what He

commands. Moreover He is their Creator and the creator of their deeds and theirpower. But He has no need of them; He is not like a king whose helpers do things by their

own strength. So what He says when He does something through His angels is, ³We did it´,this is more appropriate and He is more entitled to say it than some king.6 (Emphasis mine)

Another example is provided by Shaykh Hamza Karamali:



One of the earliest and most authoritative Quranic lexicologists, al-Raghib al-Asfahani (d.425 A.H.), explained that nahnu (Arabic for we) is normally a pronominal reference that a

speaker makes to himself when speaking of himself along with others. When Allah MostHigh uses nahnu to refer to Himself [sic] the Quran, He may either be using it solely for

Himself, or, if the He speaks of an action that He creates at the hands of His angels, for

example, He may be referring to the [sic] Himself along with His angels.7

The first part of Ibn Taymiyyah¶s remark above might be read as an indication that the ³We´

includes not only Allah and Jibreel but Muhammad also.8 However, in light of the fact that

Ibn Taymiyyah goes on to speak only of Allah and the angels, and since no tafsir that I am

aware of includes Muhammad in the divine W e spoken by Allah, it seems much more likely

that he is only saying that W e refers to Allah and Jibreel (or Allah and the angels).

Nevertheless, in order to leave no stone unturned some remarks will be made to show that

even if it is thought by someone that some passages could possibly include Muhammad, it

must be seen that this interpretation could hardly account for all such passages or even a

majority of them. For example, the following passages quite clearly could not include

Muhammad in the ³We´ spoken by Allah:

And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a Surah likethereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts)

are true. (S. 2:23)

Verily, We have sent thee in truth as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner: but of thee no

question shall be asked of the companions of the Blazing Fire. (S. 2:119)

Thus have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the

nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves; and We appointed the Qiblah to which

thou was used, only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on

their heels. (S. 2:143-144)

A similar (favour have ye already received) in that We have sent among you a Messenger of

you own, rehearsing to you Our Signs, and purifying you, and instructing you in Scriptureand Wisdom, and in new knowledge. (S. 2:151)

These are the Signs of Allah: We rehearse them to thee in truth: verily thou art one of the

Messengers. (S. 2:252)

This is part of the tidings of the things unseen, which We reveal unto thee (O Prophet!) by

inspiration: thou was not with them when they cast lots with arrows, as to which of them

should be charged with the care of Mary: nor wast thou with them when they disputed (the

point). (S. 3:44)

We sent not a Messenger, but to be obeyed, in accordance with the Will of Allah. If they had

only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah¶s forgiveness,

and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-

Returning, Most Merciful. (S. 4:64)

Whatever good, (O man!) happens to thee, is from Allah; but whatever evil happens to thee,

is from thy (own) soul. And We have sent thee as a Messenger to (instruct) mankind. And



enough is Allah for a witness. He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah; but if any turnaway, We have not sent thee to watch over their (evil deeds). (S. 4:79-80)

Others you will find that wish to gain your confidence as well as that of their people: every

time they are sent back to temptation, they succumb thereto; if they withdraw not from you

nor give you (guarantees) of peace besides restraining their hands, seize them and slay them

wherever ye get them; in their case We have provided you with a clear argument againstthem. (S. 4:91)

We have sent down to thee the Book in truth, that thou mightiest judge between men, as

guided by Allah: so be not (used) as an advocate by those who betray their trust;« (S. 4:105)

If anyone contends with the Messenger even after Guidance has been plainly conveyed to

him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell ± what an evil refuge! (S. 4:115)

We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: We sent

inspiration to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and

Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms. Of some messengers We have already told theethe story; of others we have not ± and to Moses Allah spoke direct ± (S. 4:163-164)

9

O People of the Book! There hath come to you Our Messenger, revealing to you much that

ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary): There hath

come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book ± (S. 5:15)

O People of the Book! Now hath come unto you, making (things) clear unto you Our

Messenger, after the break in (the series of) our messengers, lest ye should say: ³There cameunto us no bringer of glad tidings and no warner (from evil)´; but now hath come unto you a

bringer of glad tidings and a warner (from evil). And Allah hath power over all things. (S.5:19)10

Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil); if ye do turn back, know ye that it

is Our Messenger¶s duty to proclaim (the Message) in the clearest manner. (S. 5:92)

If We had sent unto thee a written (Message) on parchment so that they could touch it with

their hands, the Unbelievers would have been sure to say: ³This is nothing but obvious

magic!´ They say: ³Why is not an angel sent down to him?´ If We did send down an angel,

the matter would be settled at once, and no respite would be granted them. If We had made it

an angel, We should have sent him as a man, and We should certainly have caused them

confusion in a matter which they have already covered with confusion. (S. 6:7-9)

Before thee We sent (Messenger) to many nations, and We afflicted the nations withsuffering and adversity, that they might learn humility. (S. 6:42)

If it had been Allah¶s Plan, they would not have taken false gods: but We made thee not one

to watch over their doings, nor art thou set over them to dispose of their affairs. (S. 6:107)

Likewise did We make for every Messenger an enemy ± evil ones among men and Jinns

inspiring each other with flowery discourses by way of deception. If thy Lord had so planned,they would not have done it: so leave them alone and their inventions alone. (S. 6:112)



How many towns have We destroyed (for their sins)? Our punishment took them on asudden by night or while they slept for their afternoon rest. When (thus) Our punishment

took them, no cry did they utter but this: ³Indeed we did wrong.´ Then shall We questionthose to whom Our Message was sent and those by whom We sent it. And verily We shall

recount their whole story with knowledge, for We were never absent (at any time or place).

(S. 7:4-7)

Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its people in suffering and adversity, in

order that they might learn humility. (S. 7:94)

We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from

corruption). We did send messengers before thee amongst the religious sects of old. (S. 15:9-

10)

Such are signs of Allah, which We rehearse to thee in truth: then in what exposition will they

believe after (rejecting) Allah and His Signs. (S. 45:6)

With that said, the same problem applies to the idea that is actually advocated by many

Muslims, namely that W e refers to Allah and Jibreel or the other angels. While a handful of ³We´ passages could be read as a reference to Jibreel (or Michael and/or the other angels),

such as the following verses,

(The angels say:) ³We descend not but by command of thy Lord: To Him belongeth what is

before us, and what is behind us, and what is between: and thy Lord never doth forget. Lord

of the heavens and of the earth, and of all that is between them: so worship Him, and be

constant and patient in His worship: knowest thou of any who is worthy of the same Name as

He?´ (S. 19:64-65)11

(Those ranged in the ranks say): ³Not one of us but has a place appointed; and we are verilyranged in ranks (for service); and

weare verily those who declare (Allah¶s) glory!´ (37:164-

166)12

A great many more could not have this meaning since they distinguish between Allah,

speaking in the plural, and an angel and/or the angels in general.

And behold, We said to the angels: ³Bow down to Adam:´ and they bowed down: not so

Iblis: he refused and was haughty: he was of those who reject Faith. (S. 2:34)

If We had sent unto thee a written (Message) on parchment so that they could touch it with

their hands, the Unbelievers would have been sure to say: ³This is nothing but obviousmagic!´ They say: ³Why is not an angel sent down to him?´ If We did send down an angel,

the matter would be settled at once, and no respite would be granted them. If We had made itan angel, We should have sent him as a man, and We should certainly have caused them

confusion in a matter which they have already covered with confusion. (S. 6:7-9)

He is Irresistible, (watching) from above over His worshippers, and He sets guardians over

you. At length when death approaches one of you, Our angels take his soul, and they never

fail in their duty. (S. 6:61)



Even if We did send unto them angels, and the dead did speak unto them, and We gatheredtogether all things before their very eyes they are not the ones to believe, unless it is in

Allah¶s Plan. But most of them ignore (the truth). (S. 6:111)

It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels bow down to Adam,

and they bowed down; not so Iblis; he refused to be of those who bow down. (S. 7:11)

Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah or rejects His Signs? For such,

their portion appointed must reach them from the Book (of Decrees): Until, when Our

messengers (of death) arrive and take their souls, they say: ³Where are the things that ye used

to invoke besides Allah?´ They will reply, ³They have left us in the lurch,´ and they will bear

witness against themselves, that they had rejected Allah. (S. 7:37)

We send not the angels down except for just cause: if they came (to the ungodly), Behold! Norespite would they have!´ We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will

assuredly guard it (from corruption). (S. 15:8-9)

Relate in the Book (the story of) Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place in the

East. She placed a screen (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our angel, andhe appeared before her as a man in all respects. She said: ³I seek refuge from thee to (Allah)

Most Gracious: (come not near) if thou dost fear Allah.´ He said: ³Nay, I am only a

messenger from thy Lord, (to announce) to thee the gift of a holy son.´ She said: ³How shall I

have a son, seeing that no man has touched me, and I am not unchaste?´ He said: So (it will

be) thy Lord saith, µThat is easy for Me: and (We wish) to appoint him as a Sign unto men

and a Mercy from Us¶: it is a matter (so) decreed.´ (S. 19:16-21)13

We will call on the angels of punishment (to deal with him)! (S. 96:17)

In fact, while Surah 2:30-33 might also initially appear to offer indirect evidence for theangels being included in the use of first person plurals by Allah, for in these verses Allah

speaks to the angels using singular rather than plural pronouns, yet the two verses that

immediately follow them, verses 34-35, show that this is not the case. In the last two verses

Allah shifts from using ³I´ and ³Me´ to ³We´ when speaking in contradistinction to the

angels.

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: ³I will create a vicegerent on earth.´ They said: ³Wilt

Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood? Whilst we do

celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?´ He said: ³I know what ye know not.´

And He taught Adam the names of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and

said: ³Tell Me the names of these if ye are right.´ They said: ³Glory to Thee: of knowledge

we have none, save what Thou hast taught us: in truth it is Thou who art perfect in knowledge

and wisdom.´ He said: ³O Adam! Tell them their names.´ When he had told them, Allahsaid: ³Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and I know what yereveal and what ye conceal?´ And behold, We said to the angels: ³Bow down to Adam:´ and

they bowed down: Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who rejectFaith. (S. 2:30-35)

This should give us pause in the case of even the handful of other passages that might

initially appear to include the angels with Allah when speaking in the plural.



Not only does this view not explain many of the verses previously quoted, it also conflictswith passages that attribute to Allah, speaking in plural form, what can only be said of God.

Unless the Qur¶an itself is guilty of shirk,14

this necessarily rules out any and all reference toMuhammad or Jibreel or any and all other angels in such verses. For example,

O ye who believe! Give of the good things which ye have (honourably) earned, and of the

fruits of the earth which We have produced for you, and do not even aim at getting anythingwhich is bad, in order that out of it ye may give away something, when ye yourselves would

not receive it except with closed eyes. And know that Allah is free of all wants, and worthy of

all praise. (S. 2:267)

If ye (but) eschew the most heinous of the things which ye are forbidden to do, We shall

expel out of you all the evil in you, and admit you to a gate of great honour. (S. 4:31)

Those who reject Our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire; as often as their skins are

roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the Penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. (S. 4:56)

And for their Covenant We raised over them (the towering height) of Mount (Sinai); and (onanother occasion) We said: ³Enter the gate with humility´; and (once again) We commanded

them: ³Transgress not in the matter of the Sabbath.´ And We took from them a solemn

Covenant. (S. 4:154)

For the iniquity of the Jews We made unlawful for them certain (foods) good and wholesome

which had been lawful for them ± in that they hindered many from Allah¶s way. (S. 4:160)

On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person ± unlessit be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land ± it would be as if he slew the whole

people: and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.Then although there came to them

OurMessengers with Clear Signs, yet, even after that,

many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. (S. 5:32)

See they not how many of those before them We did destroy? ± Generations We had

established on the earth, in strength such as We have not given to you ± for whom We poured

out rain from the skies in abundance, and gave (fertile) streams flowing beneath their (feet):

yet for their sins We destroyed them, and raised in their wake fresh generations (to succeed

them). (S. 6:6)

There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms

part of) communities like you. Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall

be gathered to their Lord in the end. (S. 6:38)

That was the reasoning about Us, which We gave to Abraham (to use) against his people: We

raise whom We will, degree after degree: for thy Lord is full of wisdom and knowledge. We

gave him Isaac and Jacob: all (three) We guided: and before him We guided Noah, and

among his progeny, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron: thus do We reward

those who do good: and Zakariya and Yahya, and Jesus and Elias all in the ranks of the

Righteous: and Ismail and Elisha, and Jonah, and Lot: and to all We gave favour above the

nations: (to them) and to their fathers, and progeny and brethren: We chose them, and We

guided them to a straight Way. This is the Guidance of Allah: He giveth that guidance to



whom He pleaseth of His worshippers. If they were to join other gods with Him, all that theydid would be vain for them. These were the men to whom We gave the Book, and Authority,

and Prophethood: if these (their descendants) reject them, Behold! We shall entrust their charge to a new People who reject them not. Those were the (prophets) who received Allah¶s

guidance: copy the guidance they received; ³Say: No reward for this do I ask of you: this is

no less than a Message for the nations.´ (S. 6:83-90)

³And behold! Ye come to Us bare and alone as We created you for the first time: ye have left

behind you all (the favours) which We bestowed on you: We see not with you your

intercessors whom ye thought to be partners in your affairs: so now all relations between you

have been cut off, and your (pet) fancies have left you in the lurch!´ (S. 6:94)

It is He Who maketh the stars (as beacons) for you, that ye may guide yourselves, with their

help, through the dark spaces of land and sea: We detail Our signs for people who

understand. It is He Who hath produced you from a single Person; here is a place of sojourn

and a place of departure: We detail Our signs for people who understand. It is He Who

sendeth down rain from the skies; with it We produce vegetation of all kinds: from some We

produce green (crops), out of which We produce grain, heaped up (at harvest); out of the date

palm and its sheaths (or spathes) (come) clusters of dates hanging low and near: and (thenthere are) gardens of grapes, and olives, and pomegranates, each similar (in kind) yet

different (in variety): when they begin to bear fruit, feast your eyes with the fruit and theripeness thereof. Behold! In these things there are Signs for people who believe. (S. 6:97-99)

Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in

their ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end will

they return to their Lord, and We shall then tell them the truth of all that they did. (S. 6:108)

Can he who was dead to whom We gave life, and a Light whereby he can walk amongst men,

be like him who is in the depths of darkness, from which he can never come out? Thus to

those without Faith their own deeds seem pleasing. (S. 6:122)

For those who followed the Jewish Law, We forbade every (animal) with undivided hoof,and We forbade them the fat of the ox and the sheep, except what adheres to their back or

their entrails, or is mixed up with a bone: this in recompense for their willful disobedience:for We are True (in Our ordinances). (S. 6:146)

Say: ³Come, I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from´: join not anything

as equal with Him; be good to your parents; kill not your children on a plea of want ± We

provide sustenance for you and for them ± Come not nigh to shameful deeds, whether open or

secret; take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus

doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom. (S. 6:151)

And verily We shall recount their whole story with knowledge, for We were never absent (atany time or place). (S. 7:7)

It is We who have placed you with authority on earth, and provided you therein with means

for the fulfillment of your life: small are the thanks that ye give. It is We Who created you

and gave you shape; then We bade the angels bow down to Adam, and they bowed down; not

so Iblis; he refused to be of those who bow down. (S. 7:10-11)



It is He Who sendeth the Winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before His Mercy: whenthey have carried the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them to a land that is dead, make rain to

descend thereon, and produce ever kind of harvest therewith: thus shall We raise up the dead: perchance you may remember. From the land that is clean and good, by the Will of its

Cherisher, springs up produce, (rich) after its kind: but from the land that is bad, springs up

nothing but that which is niggardly: thus do we explain the Signs by various (symbols) to

those who are grateful. (S. 7:57-58)15

To those who inherit the earth in succession to its (previous) possessors, is it not a guiding

(lesson) that, if We so willed, We could punish them (too) for their sins, and seal up their

hearts so that they could not hear? (S. 7:100)

We put it into Moses¶s mind by inspiration: ³Throw (now) thy rod´: and behold! It swallows

up straightaway all the falsehoods which they fake! (S. 7:117)

We divided them into twelve Tribes or nations. We directed Moses by inspiration, when his(thirsty) people asked him for water: ³Strike the rock with thy staff´: out of it there gushed

forth twelve springs: each group knew its own place for water. We gave them the shade of

clouds, and sent down to them manna and quails, (Saying): ³Eat of the good things We have provided for you´: (But they rebelled); to Us they did no harm, but they harmed their own

souls. (S. 7:160)

When We shook the Mount over them, as if it had been a canopy, and they thought it was

going to fall on them (We said): ³Hold firmly to what We have given you, and bring (ever) to

remembrance what is therein; perchance ye may fear Allah.´ (S. 7:171)

Many are the Jinns and men We have made for Hell: they have hearts wherewith they

understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like

cattle ± nay more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning). (S. 7:179)

Of those We have created are people who direct (others) with truth, and dispense justice

therewith. (S. 7:181)

We have indeed created man in the best of moulds, then do We abase him (to be) the lowest

of the low ± except such as believe and do righteous deeds: for they shall have a reward

unfailing. (S. 95:4-6)

Unless Muslims are willing to say that Muhammad and/or the angels were present with Allah

and acted a s hi s helper( s) when he made the Jinns for hell, created man in the best of moulds,

granted man authority and established him in the earth, provided him with light and

sustenance, etc., then it can hardly be gainsaid that the plurals in such instances refer not to

Muhammad or the angels or anyone else but to Allah alone.

This basic conclusion has also been arrived at by Muslim scholar Neal Robinson. After

granting that the Quranic use of pronouns is ³highly unusual´,16

and mentioning H. M. Watt¶s

observation that it is one thing for a speaker to do this on a handful of occasions and another

for him to do so with the kind of frequency found in the Qur¶an, an observation that played a

role in leading Watt to conclude, at least when it comes to the later portions of the Qur¶an,

that ³We´ refers to the revelatory angels, Robinson challenges the idea that it ordinarily

refers to the angels (or anyone other than Allah).



Toward this end, Robinson analyzes Surahs 94, 12, and 5, all of which feature Allah speakingin the first person plural pronoun, and shows why it is not likely that the plurals in such cases

include the revelatory angels. According to Robinson, the words and actions ascribed to thespeaker are elsewhere attributed to Allah in the Qur¶an in the third and first person singular.

Here are Robinson¶s comments on Surah five, which mirrors his analyses of Surah 94 and

Surah 12:

Because of Watt¶s claim that the angelic discourse predominates in the later portions of the

Qur¶an, I have chosen Surah 5, a late Madinan Surah, as my third example. The speaker

employs the first person plural in vv. 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 32, 44, 45, 46, 48, 64 -65, and 70.

Once again, I shall tabulate the evidence giving third-person-singular (or occasionally first-

person-singular) parallels from elsewhere in the Qur¶an.

Those who disbelieve and reject Our signs « (5:10)

Who does evil greater than he who forges a lie

against Allah and rejects His signs? (6:21)

We raised up from among them twelve chieftains « (5:12)

So Allah raised up prophets as proclaimers of good tidingsand warners « (2:213)

We cursed them and made their hearts hard « (5:13)

Allah cursed them « (2:88)

Allah has set a seal on their hearts « (2:7)

We accepted their agreement « (5:14, cf. 70)

Allah accepted an agreement with the children of Israel « (5:10)

We have stirred up among them enmity and hatred « (5:14, cf. 64)- no close parallel.

Our Messenger has come to you « (5:15, 19)

He it is who has sent His messenger with guidance « (9:33)

On account of that, we prescribed for the children of Israel that « (5:32, cf. 45)

« Seek what Allah has prescribed for you « (2:187)

We sent down the Torah « (5:44)He sent down the Torah « (3:3)

We caused Jesus the Son of Mary to follow in their footsteps « (5:46)

- no close parallel.

We gave him the Gospel « (5:46)« When I taught thee « the Gospel « (5:109)

We have sent down to thee the Scripture « (5:48)

It is He who has sent down to thee the Scripture « (3:7)



« to everyone of you We have appointed a right way (S H iRµat an) and a program of action« (5:48)

He has laid down (SHaRaµa) for you as religion « (42:13)

We would have acquitted them of their evil deeds and admitted them to gardens « (5:65)

« I shall acquit you of your evil deeds and admit you to gardens « (5:12)

« He will acquit you of your evil deeds « (8:29)« Allah will admit those who believe and do good works to gardens « (4:122)

Once again [as in the case of Surah 94 and 12 - AR], the sceptic might wish to argue that the

existence of third-person parallels is not conclusive and that µWe¶ is the self-designation of

the angels. It is difficult, however, to envisage the angels speaking of µOur Messenger¶ (5:15,

19) or claiming µWe would have acquitted them of their evil deeds¶ (5:65).17

Furthermore, according to Robinson, Surah 19:64 and 37:164-6 are isolated exceptions to the

rule that the Quranic We-discourse refers to Allah (and not also to the angels along withhim).

Conclusion

Although there may be a handful of passages that could perhaps be understood to include

Muhammad or Jibreel or the angels (in the plural pronoun ³We´), this long exercise shows

that the explanatory power of the above answers, again, when (and if) they ever apply, which

is certainly not that often, is extremely limited; the overwhelming number of instances where

Allah says ³We´, ³Us´ or ³Our´ can refer only to Allah. Another explanation must, therefore,

be brought in to account for what is going on here in the Qur¶an, at least in most cases.

Footnotes1

Because Muslims believe Surah 1 was revealed as a prayer for the Muslim community, such

that when it says ³We´ or ³Us´ it is not a reference to Allah, it will be excluded from this

study. But see the following article: The Unsurpassable Eloquence of the Qur¶an.2 Yusuf Ali¶s translation has gone through a number of revisions. The one being used in this

paper is The Meaning of the Holy Qur¶an, New E dit ion with Revi sed T ran slat ion,

Comment ary and Newly Compil ed Compr ehen sive I nd ex , 8th edit ion (Beltsville, Maryland:

amana publications, 1996).3 The Royal ³We´. Remarks made in the comment section of this article are also illustrative

of the point. A number of Muslims mention how they stumble over Allah¶s use of ³We´ inthe Qur¶an. There are others who say it is no problem at all, but in their case, as they go on tosay, it is because they grew up in an Islamic culture or speaking a language where ³we´ is

sometimes just a plural of majesty. This of course is entirely anachronistic and doesn¶tautomatically explain Quranic usage. For a full fledged refutation of this, see Part II.4

I assume the author would also like to do the same thing with inna, ³Verily We´.5

The ³fully detailed´ Qur¶an does not identify Jibreel as an angel; this extra-Quranic

assumption held by Muslims is being taken for granted in this paper. For an articlechallenging this assumption in Islam, see: Is Gabriel Really An Angel?



6 Fatwa 12713. See also here: Fatwa 606

7 Why does Allah refer to Himself with the plural pronoun? Karamali references the

following source in a footnote: al-Raghib al-Asfahani, Muf radat Al f ad h al-Quran, EntryTitle: n.h.n. 8

Ibn Taymiyyah¶s statement speaks of a chain for the transmission of the Qur¶an. Before the

Qur¶an became generally available and was put into writing for the believers, the companions

heard it recited ³from the Prophet who heard it from Jibreel who heard it from Allah.´ If thisrevelatory chain is a reason to include anyone into the plural ³We´, then Muhammad and

Jibreel have the same claim on it as they are both equally essential links in this chain of

revealing the Qur¶an from Allah to the Muslims.9 For some unknown reason the last ³we´ in this verse is not capitalized in YA¶s translation.

In other translations, it is.10

Again, the second ³our´ is not capitalized in YA though it is in other translations.11

This is conjecture as the words in parentheses, ³The angels say´, are not found in the

Arabic text.12

Once again the words in parenthesis are not really found in the Arabic text but have been

supplied by the translator to enforce (force?) this meaning.13 This verse does not really say an ang el appeared to Mary; it actually says ³Our Spirit´

appeared to her.14 The Qur¶an i s guilty of ³shirk´ in many ways, but the Muslim claim is being taken for

granted at this point. See the articles in the section on The Deification of Muhammmad aswell as the following articles for some further examples of how the Qur¶an is guilty of

teaching shirk: (*, *, *, *, *)15 Not capitalized in YA.16

Di scovering the Qur¶an: A Contemporary A ppr oach to A Veil ed Text (Washington, D.C.:

Georgetown University Press, 2003), p. 22417

I bid ., p. 228-229



Part II

By Anthony Rogers

Introduction

The previous article (*) showed some of the problems that exist for saying the plural

pronouns used by Allah are, except with certain rare exceptions, used incl usively of Allah and

Jibreel and/or Muhammad and/or an angel and/or the angels as a whole. We also saw that this

means, at the very least, that most verses where Allah uses first person plural pronouns they

are being used excl usively for Allah and cannot be referring to any creature along with him.



The Plural of Majesty

Recognizing that in most cases the divine plurals of the Qur'an must refer to Allah alone,

nearly every Muslim authority who believes there is an explanation for them says they are

instances of the M ajest ic P l ural or P l ural of Res pect ,1

which is to say they interpret them

figuratively. For example, Shaykh Hamza Karamali says:

The nahnu here [S. 15:9] could be the royal we « or Allah may be referring to Himself along

with the Angel Jibreel. The dominant interpretation here and elsewhere, though, is that it

is the royal we.2 (Bold mine; italics original)

Similarly, Ibn Taymiyyah is often quoted as saying:

Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, sometimes refers to Himself in the singular, by

name or by use of a pronoun, and sometimes by use of the plural, as in the phrase(interpretation of the meaning): µVerily, We have given you a manifest victory¶ [al-Fath

48:1], and other similar phrases. But Allaah never refers to Himself by use of the dual,

because the plural refers to the respect that He deserves, and may refer to His names andattributes, whereas the dual refers to a specific number (and nothing else), and He is far above

that.3, 4

(Emphasis mine)

But given that this idiom was not in use in Arabic prior to or contemporaneous with the

Qur'an, as Muslim scholar M. A. S. Abdel Haleem admits,

It should be pointed out that in pre-Islamic literature, and during the time of the revelation of

the Qur'an, pronouns do not appear to have been used as indicative of status ; they did notchange with social status, and the plural of majesty, in particular, does not appear to have

been used by, or for addressing or referring to, kings or chiefs. The Prophet and his early

successors did not use it for themselvesnor in their letters to address kings or governors. It

was clearly in the Qur'an that such usage was introduced, as has been shown, on the basis of a

highly sophisticated application of the concept of plurality.5

(Emphasis mine)

some justification must be given for the assertion that it really explains what is going on in

the Qur'an. If such an idiom was introduced into Arabic by the Qur¶an, why is this new idiom

never explained? Why is there no record of Muhammad explaining it in the Hadith? And

since it never is explained in either the Qur¶an or the Hadith, what is the proof that the Qur¶an

introduces such an idiom in the first place?

The oft-repeated justification for this assertion is that Allah speaks in the plural in passages

where his transcendence and majesty are in view, which may be taken as a claim that this

figure of speech is known and can be justified by how it is used in the Qur¶an. This isexpressed by Shaykh Karamali in the following words:

When He uses nahnu [³We´] to refer to Himself, nahnu is the royal we, and connotes

majesty. Someone steeped in the Quranic language will feel humbled before the divine

majesty when reciting such verses. This humbleness is the essence of worship, which defines

the relationship between servant and Master. Verses that speak of resurrection and

judgment, for example, have a powerful aura of divine majesty .6

(Bold emphasis mine)



Muzzamil Sidiqqi further elaborates on this view, adding that, by way of contrast, singular pronouns are used when Allah¶s nearness is in view:

This is a style of speech. Sometime the speaker says I and sometime says we. We also use

that in our conversations. In the Qur¶an you will see that often the first person singular

such as I or My is used, when Allah speaks about His love, care and closeness and

forgiveness for His servants. In a similar way the first person plural is often used whenAllah speaks about His power, majesty, glory, great deeds or when He speaks about His

anger and wrath for the sinners and criminals. (This is, of course, the general use.

Sometime the reverse is also the case, depending on the context of the Surah.)7

(Emphasis

mine)

A similar statement is made by Yusuf Ali in his commentary on Surah 2:37:

³Note the transition from the plural µWe¶ at the beginning of the verse to the singular µMe¶

later in the same verse, Allah speaks of Himself usually in the first person plural µWe¶; it isthe plural of respect and honour and is used in human language in Royal proclamations and

decrees. But where special personal relationship is expressed the singular, µI¶ or µMe¶ is used

cf. 26:52, etc.´8

This attempt at justifying the plural of majesty explanation for the divine plurals in the

Qur¶an flounders on the following:

1) As Sidiqqi himself parenthetically admits above, the use of plural pronouns does not neatly

fall into this scheme: there are passages where Allah speaks in the singular even when his

transcendence is in view; and there are passages where Allah speaks in the plural even when

his nearness is in view. In fact, any comparison of the verses will reveal that there is not even

a g eneral pattern to be found in this regard.

a. According to this explanation, one would expect to find plural pronouns used when Allah¶s

transcendence, majesty, power, glory, great deeds, anger and wrath are in view. While there

are such passages:

Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration, and his Lord turned towards him; for

He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. We said: ³Get ye down all from here: and if, as is sure,

there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no

fear, nor shall they grieve. But those who reject Faith and belie Our Signs, the shall be

Companions of the fire; they shall abide therein.´ (S. 2:37-39)

But how (will they fare) when We gather them together against a Day about which there is no

doubt, and each soul will be paid out just what it has earned, without (favour or) injustice? (S.

3:25)

Let not the Unbelievers think that Our respite to them is good for themselves: We grant them

respite that they may grow in their iniquity: but they will have a shameful punishment. (S.

3:178)

Allah hath heard the taunt of those who say: ³Truly, Allah is indigent and we are rich!´ ± We

shall certainly record their word and (their act) of slaying the Prophets in defiance of right,

and We shall say: ³Taste ye the penalty of the Scorching Fire! (S. 3:181)



If any do that in rancor and injustice ± soon shall We cast them into the Fire: and easy it is for Allah. (S. 4:30)

(Nor) those who are niggardly, or enjoin niggardliness on others, or hide the bounties which

Allah hath bestowed on them; for We have prepared, for those who resist Faith, a punishment

that steeps them in contempt ± (S. 4:37)

O Ye People of the Book! Believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was

(already) with you, before We change the face and fame of some (of you) beyond all

recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers, for

the decision of Allah must be carried out. (S. 4:47)

If anyone contends with the Messenger even after Guidance has been plainly conveyed to

him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell ± what an evil refuge! (S. 4:115)

They are in truth (equally) unbelievers; and We have prepared for Unbelievers a humiliating

punishment. (S. 4:151)

That they took usury, though they were forbidden; and that they devoured men¶s substance

wrongfully ± We have prepared for those among them who reject Faith a grievous

punishment. (S. 4:161)

Those who reject faith and deny Our Signs will be Companions of Hell-fire. (S. 5:10)

But because of their breach of their Covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow

hard: they change the words from their (right) places and forget a good part of the Messagethat was sent them, nor wilt thou cease to find them ± barring a few ± ever bent on (new)

deceits: but forgive them, and overlook (their misdeeds): for Allah loveth those who are kind.

From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a Covenant, but they forgot agood part of the Message that was sent them: so We estranged them, with enmity and hatred

between the one and the other, to the Day of Judgment. And soon will Allah show them what

it is they have done. (S. 5:13-14)

But those who reject Faith and belie Our Signs ± they shall be Companions of Hell-fire. (S.

5:86)

One day shall We gather them all together: We shall say to those who ascribed partners (toUs) ³Where are the partners whom ye (invented and) talked about!´ There will then be (left)

no subterfuge for them but to say: ³By Allah Our Lord, we were not those who joined godswith Allah.´ Behold! How they lie against their own souls! But the (lie) which they invented

will leave them in the lurch. Of them there are some who (pretend to) listen to thee: but We have thrown veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they

saw every one of the Signs, they will not believe in them; « (S. 6:22-25)

Those who reject Our Sings are deaf and dumb ± in the midst of darkness profound: whom

Allah willeth, He leaveth to wander; whom He willeth, He placeth on the Way that is

Straight. (S. 6:39)



Before thee We sent (Messengers) to many nations, and We afflicted the nations withsuffering and adversity, that they might learn humility. When the suffering reached them

from Us, why then did they not learn humility on the contrary their hearts became hardened,and Satan made their (sinful) acts seem alluring to them. But when they forgot the warning

they had received, We opened to them the gates of all (good) things, until, in the midst of

their enjoyment of Our gifts, on a sudden, We called them to account, when lo! They were

plunged in despair! (S. 6:42-44)

But those who reject Our Signs ± them shall punishment touch, for that they ceased not from

transgressing. (S. 6:49)

So also did We show Abraham the power and the laws of the heavens and the earth, the he

might (with understanding) have certitude. (S. 6:75)

We (too) shall turn to (confusion) their hearts and their eyes, even as they refused to believe

in this in the first instance: We shall leave them in their trespasses, to wander in distraction.(S. 6:110)

Those who give partners (To Allah) will say: ³If Allah had wished, we should not have given partners to Him nor would our fathers: nor should we have had any taboos.´ So did their

ancestors argue falsely, until they tasted of Our wrath. Say: ³Have ye any (certain)

knowledge? If so, produce it before us. Ye follow nothing but conjecture: ye do nothing but

lie. (S. 6:148)

How many towns have We destroyed (for their sins)? Our punishment took them on a

sudden by night or while they slept for their afternoon rest. When (thus) Our punishment

took them, no cry did they utter but this: ³Indeed we did wrong.´ Then shall We question

those to whom Our Message was sent and those by whom We sent it. And verily We shall

recount their whole story with knowledge, for We were never absent (at any time or place).

(S. 7:4-7)

Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its people in suffering and adversity, in

order that they might learn humility. Then We changed their suffering into prosperity, until

they grew and multiplied, and began to say: ³Our fathers (too) were touched by suffering and

affluence´«Behold! We called them to account of a sudden, while they realized not (their

peril). If the people of the towns had but believed and feared Allah, We should indeed have

opened out to them (all kinds of) blessing from heaven and earth; but they rejected (the truth),

and We brought them to book for their misdeeds. Did the people of the towns feel secure

against the coming of Our wrath by night while they were asleep? (S. 7:94-97)

To those who inherit the earth in succession to its (previous) possessors, is it not a guiding

(lesson) that, if We so willed, We could punish them (too) for their sins, and seal up their hearts so that they could not hear? Such were the towns whose story We (thus) relate untothee: there came indeed to them their Messengers with clear (Signs). But they would not

believe what they had rejected before. Thus doth Allah seal up the hearts of those who rejectFaith. Most of them We found not men (true) to their covenant: but most of them We found

rebellious and disobedient. Then after them We sent Moses with Our Signs to Pharaoh andhis chiefs, but they wrongfully rejected them: So see what was the end of those who made

mischief. (S. 7:100)



We punished the people of Pharaoh with years (of drought) and shortness of crops; that theymight receive admonition. (S. 7:130)

So We sent (plagues) on them: Wholesale death, Locusts, Lice, Frogs, And Blood: Signs

openly self-explained: but they were steeped in arrogance,- a people given to sin. (S. 7:133)

Those who took the calf (for worship) will indeed be overwhelmed with wrath from their Lord, and with shame in this life: thus do We recompense those who invent (falsehoods). (S.

7:152)

Many are the Jinns and men We have made for Hell: they have hearts wherewith they

understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are likecattle ± nay more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning). (S. 7:179)

Frequently enough, and quite unexpectedly on this theory, we find the exact opposite to be

the case.

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt

Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do

celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not."

And He taught Adam the nature of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and

said: "Tell me the nature of these if ye are right." They said: "Glory to Thee, of knowledge

we have none, save what Thou hast taught us: In truth it is Thou Who art perfect in

knowledge and wisdom." He said: "O Adam! Tell them their natures." When he had told

them, Allah said: "Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and I know

what ye reveal and what ye conceal?" (S. 2:30-33)

And remember Abraham said: ³My Lord, make this a City of Peace, and feed its people with

fruits ± such of them as believe in Allah and the Last Day.´ He said: ³(Yea), and such asreject Faith ± for a while will

Igrant them their pleasure, but will soon drive them to the

torment of Fire ± an evil destination (indeed)!´ (S. 2:126)

So from whencesoever Thou startest forth, turn thy face in the direction of the sacred

Mosque; and wheresoever ye are, turn your face thither: that there be no ground of dispute

against you among the people, except those of them that are bent on wickedness; so fear them

not, but fear Me; and that I may complete My favours on you, and ye May (consent to) be

guided; (S. 2:150)

"As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the

Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help." (S. 3:56)

Allah said: "I will send it down unto you: But if any of you after that resisteth faith, I will punish him with a penalty such as I have not inflicted on any one among all the peoples." (S.

5:115)

(Allah) said: "Get out from this, disgraced and expelled. If any of them follow thee,- Hell will

I fill with you all. (S. 7:18)

When Moses came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, He said: ³O myLord! Show (thyself) to me, that I may look upon thee.´ Allah said: ³By no means canst thou



see Me (direct): but look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt thou see Me´When his Lord manifested His glory on the Mount, He made it as dust, and Moses fell down

in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: ³Glory be to Thee! To Thee I turn inrepentance, and I am the first to believe.´ (S. 7:143)

Those who reject Our Signs, We shall gradually visit with punishment, in ways they perceive

not; respite will I grant unto them: for My scheme is strong (and unfailing). (S. 7:182-183)

³Verily, I am God: there is no god but I: so serve thou Me (only), and establish regular

prayer for celebrating My praise.´ (S. 20:14)

³O Moses! Verily, I am God, the Exalted in Might, the Wise!´ (S. 27:9)

But how (terrible) was My Penalty and My Warning? (S. 54:16)

b. On this approach we would also expect singular pronouns to be used when Allah¶s love,care, favor, closeness and forgiveness are in view. While we do find such passages:

When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer

of every suppliant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, listen to My call and

believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way. (S. 2:186)

Behold! Allah said: ³O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of thefalsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those

who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute. (S. 3:55)9

Behold! Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets, saying: ³I give you a Book and Wisdom;

then comes to you a Messenger, confirming what is with you; do you believe in him and

render him help.´ Allah said: Do ye agree, and take this my covenant as biding on you?´They said: ³We agree.´ He said: ³Then bear witness, and I am with you among thewitnesses.´ (S. 3:81)

And heir Lord hath accepted of them, and answered them: ³Never will I suffer to be lost the

work of any of you, be he male or female: ye are members, one of another; those who have

left their homes, and were driven out therefrom, and suffered harm in My Cause, and foughtand were slain ± verily, I will blot out from them their iniquities, and admit them into

Gardens with rivers flowing beneath ± a reward from the Presence of Allah, and from HisPresence is the best of rewards. (S. 3:195)

«.This day have those who reject Faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not

but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you,and have chosen for you Islam as your religion«.(S. 5:3)

Then will Allah say: ³O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother.

Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in

childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, and the Law and theGospel. And behold! Thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave.

And thou breathest into it, and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers by My leave. And behold! Thou bringest forth the dead by My leave.



And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didstshow them the Clear signs, and the unbelievers among them said: µThis is nothing but evident

magic.¶ And behold! I inspired the Disciples to have faith in Me and Mine Messenger; theysaid, µWe have faith, and do thou bear witness that we bow to Allah as Muslims.¶ (S. 5:110-

111)

When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam from their loins ± their descendants,and made them testify concerning themselves, (saying): ³Am I not your Lord (Who cherishes

and sustains you)?´ They said: ³Yea! We do testify!´ (This), lest ye should say on the Day of

Judgement: ³Of this we were never mindful.´ (S. 7:172)

We also find, again, quite unexpectedly, precisely the opposite in many cases:

This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah; who believein the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them; (S.

2:2-3)

We said: ³O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden and eat of the bountiful things

therein as (where and when) ye will; but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm andtransgression.´ (S. 2:35)

And remember We said: ³Enter this town, and eat of the plenty therein as ye wish; but enter

the gate with humility, in posture and in words, and We shall forgive you your faults and

increase (the portion of) those who do good.´ (S. 2:58)

Ask the Children of Israel how many Clear (Signs) We have sent them. But if anyone, after

Allah¶s favour has come to him, substitutes (something else), Allah is strict in punishment.(S. 2:211)

To (benefit) every one, We have appointed sharers and heirs to property left by parents andrelatives. To those, also, to whom your right hand was pledged, give their due portion. For

truly Allah is witness to all things. (S. 4:33)

But those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, We shall soon admit to Gardens, with

rivers flowing beneath ± their eternal home; therein shall they have companions pure and

holy: We shall admit them to shades, cool and ever deepening. (S. 4:57)

If We had ordered them to sacrifice their lives or to leave their homes, very few of themwould have done it: but if they had done what they were (actually) told, it would have been

best for them, and would have gone farthest to strengthen their (faith); and We should thenhave given them from Our Presence a great reward; and We should have shown them the

Straight Way. (S. 4:66-68)

But those who believe and do deeds of righteousness ± We shall soon admit them to Gardens,

with rivers flowing beneath ± to dwell therein forever. Allah¶s promise is the truth, and

whose word can be truer than Allah¶s? (S. 4:122)

To those who believe in Allah and His Messengers and make no distinction between any of

the messengers, We shall soon give their (due) rewards: For Allah is Oft-Forgiving, MostMerciful. (S. 4:152-153)



But those among them who are well-grounded in knowledge, and the Believers, believe inwhat hath been revealed to thee and what was revealed before thee: and (especially) those

who establish regular prayer and practices regular charity and believe in Allah and in the LastDay; to them shall We soon give a great reward. (S. 4:162)

If only the People of the Book had believed and been righteous, We should indeed have

blotted out their iniquities and admitted them to Gardens of Bliss. S. 5:65

Rejected were the Messengers before thee: with patience and constancy they bore their

rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them: there is none that can alter the

Words (and Decrees) of Allah. Already hast thou received some account of those


And this is a Book which We have sent down, bringing blessings, and confirming (therevelations) which came before it: that thou mayest warn the Mother of Cities and all around

her. Those who believe in the Hereafter, believe in this (Book), and they are constant inguarding their Prayers. (S. 6:92)

Moreover, We gave Moses the Book, completing (Our favour) to those who would do right,and explaining all things in detail ± and a guide and a mercy, that they might believe in the

meeting with their Lord. And this is a book which We have revealed as a blessing: so follow

it and be righteous, that ye may receive mercy. (S. 6:154-155)

O ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well

as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness ± that is the best. Such are

among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition! (S. 7:26)

And We shall remove from their hearts any lurking sense of injury ± beneath them will be

rivers flowing ± and they shall say: ³Praise be to Allah, Who hath guided us to this (felicity):never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of Allah « (S. 7:43)

And remember We rescued you from Pharaoh¶s people, who afflicted you with the worst of

penalties, who slew you your male children and saved alive your females in that was a

momentous trail from your Lord. (S. 7:141)

We divided them into twelve Tribes or nations. We directed Moses by inspiration, when his

(thirsty) people asked him for water: ³Strike the rock with thy staff´: out of it there gushed

forth twelve springs: each group knew its own place for water. We gave them the shade of

clouds, and sent down to them manna and quails, (Saying): ³Eat of the good things We have

provided for you´: (But they rebelled); to Us they did no harm, but they harmed their own

souls. (S. 7:160)

c. If this explanation were correct, we would also not expect to find ³We´ used in the same

breath when speaking both of Allah¶s anger and favor, as we in fact find in passages like the

following:

And remember We said: ³Enter this town, and eat of the plenty therein as ye wish; but enter

the gate with humility, in posture and in words, and We shall forgive you your faults and

increase (the portion of) those who do good.´ But the transgressors changed the word from



that which had been given them; so We sent on the transgressors a plague from heaven, for that they infringed (Our command) repeatedly. (S. 2:58)

And remember We took your Covenant and We raised above you (the towering height of)

Mount (Sinai) (Saying): ³Hold firmly to what We have given you and bring (ever) to

remembrance what is therein: perchance ye may fear Allah.´ But ye turned back thereafter;

had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of Allah to you, ye had surely been among the lost.And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath; We said

to them: ³Be ye apes, despised and rejected.´ So We made it an example to their own time

and to their posterity, and a lesson to those who fear Allah. (S. 2:63-66)

The Jews say: ³Allah¶s hand is tied up.´ Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the

(blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He giveth and spendeth

(of His bounty) as He pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth

in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them We have placed

enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth

extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth and Allah loveth not those who do

mischief. If only the People of the Book had believed and been righteous, We should indeed

have blotted out their iniquities and admitted them to Gardens of Bliss. (S. 5:64-65)

Thus did We try some of them by comparison with others, that they should say: ³Is it these

then that Allah hath favoured from amongst us?´ Doth not Allah know best those who are

grateful? When those come to thee who believe in Our Signs say: ³Peace be on you;´ Your

Lord hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy: verily, if any of you did evil in

ignorance, and thereafter repented, and amended (his conduct), lo! He is Oft-Forgiving, Most

Merciful. Thus do We explain the Signs in detail: that the way of the sinners may be shown

up. (S. 6:53-55)

But they rejected him, and We delivered him, and those with him in the Ark: But We

overwhelmed in the Flood those who rejectedOur

Signs. They were indeed a blind people!(S. 7:64)

We saved him and those who adhered to him, by Our Mercy and We cut off the roots of

those who rejected Our Signs and did not believe. (S. 7:72)

But We saved him and his family, except his wife: she was of those who lagged behind. And

we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): then see what was the end of those who

indulged in sin and crime! (S. 7:83-84)

Whenever We sent a prophet to a town, We took up its people in suffering and adversity in

order that they might learn humility. Then We changed their suffering into prosperity, until

they grew and multiplied, and began to say: ³Our fathers (too) were touched by suffering andaffluence´«Behold! We called them to account of a sudden, while they realized not (their

peril). If the people of the towns had but believed and feared Allah, We should indeed have

opened out to them (all kinds of) blessing from heaven and earth; but they rejected (the truth),and We brought them to book for their misdeeds. Did the people of the towns feel secure

against the coming of Our wrath by night while they were asleep? (S. 7:94-97)

O ye Children of Adam! Whenever there come to you Messengers from amongst you,

rehearsing My Signs unto you ± those who are righteous and mend (their lives) ± on them



shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. But those who reject Our Signs and treat them witharrogance ± they are Companions of the Fire to dwell therein (forever). Who is more unjust

than one who invents a lie Against Allah or rejects His Signs? For such, their portionappointed must reach them from the Book (of Decrees): Until, when Our messengers (of

death) arrive and take their souls, they say: ³Where are the things that ye used to invoke

besides Allah?´ The will reply, ³They have left us in the lurch,´ and they will bear witness

against themselves, that they had rejected Allah. (S. 7:35-37)

When they disregarded the warnings that had been given them, We rescued those who

forbade evil; but We visited the wrongdoers with a grievous punishment, because they were

given to transgression. (S. 7:165)

We broke them up into sections on this earth. There are among them some that are the

righteous, and some that are the opposite. We have tried them with both prosperity and

adversity: in order that they might turn (to Us). After them succeeded an (evil) generation:

they inherited the Book, but they chose (for themselves) the vanities of this world « (S.

7:168-169)

d. The same goes for the use of the word ³I´, which is used in some passages to refer both tothings like Allah¶s transcendence, wrath, etc., and intimacy, favor, etc.:

Those to whom We have sent the Book study it as it should be studied: they are the ones that

believe therein: those who reject faith therein ± the loss is their own. O Children of Israel!

Call to mind the special favour which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all

others (for My Message). (S. 2:121-122)

³And ordain for us that which is good in this life and in the Hereafter: For we have turned

unto Thee.´ He said: ³With My Punishment I visit whom I will; but My Mercy extendeth to

all things. That (Mercy) I shall ordain for those who do right and practice regular charity, and

those who believe in Our Signs.´ (S. 7:156)

e. Or both ³My´ and ³We´ used to speak of Allah¶s punishment in the same section:

Before them the People of Noah rejected (their messenger): they rejected Our servant, and

said, ³Here is one possessed!´, and he was driven out. Then he called on his Lord: ³I am one

overcome: Do Thou then help (me)!: So We opened the gates of heaven, with water pouring

forth. And We caused the earth to gush forth with springs. So the waters met (and rose) to the

extent decreed. But We bore him on an (Ark) made of broad planks and caulked with palm-

fibre: she floates under Our eyes (and care): a recompense to one who had been rejected

(with scorn)! And We have left this as a Sign (for all time) then is there any that will receive

admonition? But how (terrible) was My Penalty and My Warning?´ And We have indeed

made the Qur¶an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receiveadmonition? The µAd (people) (too) rejected (Truth): then how terrible was My Penalty andMy Warning? For We sent against them a furious wind, on a Day of violent Disaster,

plucking out men as if they were roots of palm-trees torn up (from the ground). Yea, how(terrible) was My Penalty and My Warning! (S. 54:9-21)

f. Or both ³I´ and ³We´ used to speak of Allah¶s blessing:



Those to whom We have sent the Book study it as it should be studied: they are the ones that believe therein: those who reject faith therein ± the loss is their own. O Children of Israel!

Call to mind the special favour which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to allothers (for My Message). (S. 2:121-122)

Allah did aforetime take a Covenant from the Children of Israel and We appointed twelve

captains among them. And Allah said: ³I am with you: if ye (but) establish regular Prayers, practice regular Charity, believe in My Messengers, honour and assist them, and loan to

Allah a beautiful loan, verily will I wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to Gardens

with rivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resisteth faith, he hath truly

wandered from the path of rectitude.´ (S. 5:12)

There are far too many anomalies in Allah¶s use of plural pronouns to claim that there is any

general pattern to be found in the Qur¶an, at least along the lines that have been suggested by

Muslim scholars and dawagandists.

2) Another problem with this view is that when kings speak in the plural of majesty (we) it is

nearly always necessary for others to refer to them in the plural of respect (³plural´ you ±

which modern English does not really have but Arabic does). So, if the Qur¶an has a plural of majesty, if plurality expresses majesty, why is the most majestic of all, and the one to be

respected the most, Allah, not addressed in the plural of respect? If Haleem, quoted above,

and others so easily confuse the r o yal we with the pl ural of r es pect as if they belong together,

why does the Quran so sharply draw the dividing line that Allah can often speak in the plural

but he is not to be addressed in the plural?

3) Furthermore, the underlying idea of such an idiom, even if we were to grant that it had

anything to do with what is going on in the Qur¶an, is that plurality and majesty relate in a

fundamental way, a notion that squares with the Christian rather than the Muslim

understanding of God. For example, in summarizing the Bible¶s teaching on God¶s majesty,

theologian Douglas Kelly writes:

« the majesty of God involves vastness of Being, infinite, sovereign power, outrayedsplendor and glory, [and] absolute perfection of beauty in His Triune personhood «

10

This Christian view of God as a rich diversity of attributes and persons existing in a perfect

unity of essence or being is very different than the Islamic view of Allah, who is thought by

Muslims to be a unity that transcends all diversity and interpersonal distinctions. If the

transcendent God is absolutely one in every sense of the term, then why should plurality stir

up notions of fullness, splendor, richness, beauty and majesty? Shouldn¶t the notion of a

barren deity evoke such notions all on its own?

The connection between majesty and plurality that such a figure of speech assumes is just notthe kind of association one ought to make on a unitarian conception of God and therefore notthe sort of idiom we would expect such a ³god´ to introduce into a ³perfect´ book.

In spite of all this, Muslims themselves can¶t escape making just such a connection. In fact, in

another article, Muzammil Sidiqqi, quoted earlier, recognizes and acknowledges this kind of

connection:



Islam teaches us that diversity is a fact of nature and it makes the nature beautiful. God hascreated this whole universe with diversity « These diversities are considered natural and are

called God¶s signs in the Quran (30:20-22). They are indicative of God¶s creative power andwisdom and are good and healthy since they endow human life with richness and beauty.

God wants human beings to derive benefit from this diversity and not to allow it to generate

unhealthy schisms and divisions in their ranks.11

According to Sidiqqi, diversity is a fact of nature, and the richness that such plurality imparts

is what makes it beautiful. Since Allah is not characterized by diversity, this would seem to

imply that Allah is not sublimely rich and majestic and beautiful. Hence, when Allah speaks

of himself in plural fashion it is just sound and fury signifying nothing, an attempt to achieve

by rhetoric and bombast what he lacks in reality.

Impersonal Majesty

While treated separately, the following view, here exemplified by Muhammad Asad, may be

taken as an extension or a more extreme form of the plural of majesty view, but as such it

deserves separate treatment. In the course of trying to account for the apparent incoherence of the way the Qur¶an banters back and forth in its use of first and third person singular and first

person plural pronouns when the speaker is supposed to be Allah, Muhammad Asad says:

« Western critics of the Qur¶an frequently point to the allegedly ³incoherent´ references to

God ± often in one and the same phrase ± as ³He´, ³God´, or ³I´, with the corresponding

changes of the pronoun from ³His´ to ³Ours´ or ³My´, or from ³Him´ to ³Us´ or ³Me´.

They seem to be unaware of the fact that these changes are not accidental, and not even what

one might describe as ³poetic licence´, but are obviously d eliberate: a linguistic device

meant to stress the idea that God is not a ³person´ and cannot, therefore, be reallycircumscribed by the pronouns applicable to finite beings.

12(Italics original; bold mine)

In calling this view extreme I am not suggesting that it is less Quranic. Indeed, Asad is

simply integrating the plural of majesty view into the overall picture of Allah painted in theQur¶an; he is explicating Allah¶s ³transcendence´ and ³majesty´ along Quranic lines and

trying to understand Allah¶s apparently indiscriminate use of singular and plural pronounsaccordingly. For example, reflecting on Surah 112, Asad said:

The fact that God is one and unique in every respect, without beginning and without end, has

its logical correlate in the statement that ³there is nothing that could be compared with Him´

± thus precluding any possibility of describing or defining Him « Consequently, the

qualit y of His being is beyond the range of human comprehension or imagination: which also

explains why any attempt at ³depicting´ God by means of figurative representations or even

abstract symbols must be qualified as a blasphemous denial of the truth.13

(Italics original; bold mine)

In another place Asad says,

I.e., utterly remote is He from all imperfection and from the incompleteness which is implied

in the concept of having progeny. The very concept of ³definition´ implies the possibility of a

comparison or correlation of an object with other objects; God, however, is unique, there

being ³nothing like unto Him´ (42:11) and, therefore, ³nothing that could be compared with



Him´ (112:4) ± with the result that any attempt at defining Him or His ³attributes´ is a

logical impossibility and, from the ethical point of view, a sin. The fact that He is

undefinable makes it clear that the ³attributes´ ( si f at ) of God mentioned in the Qur¶an do notcircumscribe His reality but, rather, the perceptible effect of H i s act ivit y on and within the

universe created by Him.14

(Italics original; bold mine)

But if the divine plurals are understood in the way suggested by Muslims like MuhammadAsad, then they are explained at the expense of the knowableness of Allah and his attributes

and in a way contrary to the claim that Allah relates to his followers in an intimate and

personal way. And this brings the use of plural words for Allah into conflict with those

passages that speak of Allah¶s attributes and his supposed imminence or nearness.15

What Asad, hampered by the teaching of the Qur¶an, is groping after here is actually found

clearly and palpably in the doctrine of the Trinity as it is set forth in the pages of the Bible.

After all, the Trinitarian view says precisely that God is not circumscribed by the pronouns

applicable to finite beings. The true God may indiscriminately refer to Himself through

singular or plural pronouns precisely because He is a person, and yet, not a mere person but a

tri-personal being. On this view God can be majestic and yet still relate to people, and in the

most personal way. As one Christian theologian put it, ³The Godhead is personal, because itis tripersonal. Being three persons, the Godhead cannot help but be personal rather than

impersonal, in character.´16

(More will be said in part V about the incoherent bantering back and forth in the use of

pronouns by Allah in the Qur¶an.)

Conclusion

The plural of majesty explanation has been tried and found wanting. The Qur¶an nowhere

explains Allah speaking this way as a figure of speech and it does not display any clearly

discernible pattern in the divine use of plural pronouns that would enable us to conclude that

they are being used figuratively or in what way. Moreover, such an idiom seems quite out of step with Islam¶s conception of God, and when, as per the explanation of Asad, it is fleshed

out so that it is consistent with what the Qur¶an is thought to say about Allah¶s transcendenceand uniqueness, it does so at the cost of ³his´ personality, knowableness and imminence,

which are also held to be taught in the Qur¶an. Accordingly, some other explanation must besought and found.

Footnotes1

Muslims, as well as others, often conflate the pl ural of majest y with the pl ural of r es pect ,

but these are actually two different idioms. As for the former, which is a comparatively rareidiom in ancient languages, the plural is spoken by and refers to the speaker, i.e. it is used

self-referentially; as for the latter, which is commonplace in many languages, the plural isused for addressing someone other than the speaker. For more on this, see here: The

Likeness of A Donkey Carrying Books.2

Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Why does Allah Refer to Himself with the plural prounoun?



3 Al-µ Aqeedah al-T admuriyyah by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, p. 75, as cited in various

places (*,*)4

Why is the plural used for Allah if the reason for not using the dual is because Allah is ³far above that´? Isn¶t Allah ³far above the plural as well?5

M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, ³Grammatical Shift For Rhetorical Purposes: I l t i f at and Related

Features in the Qur¶an´, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of

London, Vol. 55, No. 3 (1992), p. 414. Haleem provides the following footnote in connectionwith this observation: M. Sa'rn, al-Lu g ha wa'l-mu jt ama' (Cairo, 1963), 139-58.

Not a Bene: This quote from Haleem makes the sophomoric mistake mentioned earlier of

comingling two different figures of speech, a fact that is all the more inexcusable since in this

case it is committed by a scholar. Nonetheless, Haleem¶s contention that the plural of majesty

was not evidently in use prior to or contemporaneous with the crafting of the Qur¶an is on

point.

An inferior version of Haleem¶s article consisting of several typos, from the title of the article

to the quote used in the present paper and beyond, can be found online here: Grammatical

Shift For the Rhetorical Purposes: Iltifat and Related Features in the Qur¶an.6 Shaykh Karamali, I bid .7 Sidiqqi, Why does Allah use the Word ³We´ to refer to Himself? See also here.8

YA, fn #569 ³Me´ not capitalized in YA10

Douglas Kelly, S y stemat ic Theol o gy: Gr ound ed I n Holy S criptur e and und er stood in thelig ht of the Church , Vol. I , The God W ho Is: the Holy T rinit y (Scotland, Great Britain:

Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2008), p. 344-34511

Sidiqqi, Unity and Diversity: Islamic Perspective 12

Muhammad Asad, The Messag e of the Qur¶an (Bristol, England: The Book Foundation,

2003), p. ii, fn#213 I bid ., p. 1124, fn#214

I bid ., p. 214-215, fn#8815 Asad¶s explanation is similar to Grape-Nuts cereal, which contains neither grapes nor

nuts. After all, Asad tells us that the plural personal pronouns teach us that Allah is neither

pl ural nor per sonal .16

John Frame, The Doct rine of God (Philipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed

Publishing Co., 2002), p. 704





Part III

By Anthony Rogers

Introduction

The previous two articles (1, 2) pointed out significant problems with certain attempts atexplaining Allah¶s use of plural pronouns for himself in the Qur¶an. As we have seen, the

plural expressions used by Allah cannot ordinarily refer to other creatures along with him,

such as an angel or the angels and/or Muhammad; and neither do they refer to Allah in some

idiomatic way, as in the view of those who appeal to linguistic conventions like the pl ural of

majest y or the pl ural of r es pect . We are still left then with the question, ³What do these

plurals mean?´

Allah¶s Names and Attributes

Perhaps the answer suggested by some Muslims, which they usually conjoin with the other views already looked at, can make sense out of Allah¶s use of first person plurals: according

to this view the plurals are a reference to the great number of Allah¶s names and attributes.This view can be found for example in Ibn Taymiyyah¶s remark:

³Every time Allaah uses the plural to refer to Himself, it is based on the respect and honour

that He deserves, and on the great number of His names and attributes , and on the great

number of His troops and angels.´1

(Emphasis mine)

While this view may initially appear to escape the problems that plague the other views wehave looked at ± indeed, it is the only solution offered by Muslims that deals squarely with

the fact that the plurals are used literally rather than figuratively and that they refer excl usively to Allah ± it is still fraught with major problems.

To begin with, as with other views, this claim is not found in either the Qur¶an or the Hadith,

and there is nothing about how the Qur¶an uses these terms that would lead us to concludethat this is why Allah speaks in such a way: Allah is not portrayed as consistently using

³We´, ³Us´, and ³Our´ in passages that speak of his many names and attributes; singular

rather than plural expressions are sometimes used when his various names and attributes are

mentioned; and in many cases plural pronouns are used when there is no mention of one of Allah¶s names or attributes at all. If it is neither declared by the Qur¶an nor the Hadith, and if

there is no basis for inferring it from the way these terms are used in the Qur¶an, what basis is

there for believing it to be true? As on other issues, Muslims are long on assertions and short

on arguments for their claim here.

Not only is there no evidence for this view, there are solid reasons to reject it:



First, if Allah speaks of himself in the plural because of his many names and attributes, thenit should also be appropriate for others to refer to Allah with plural pronouns such as ³they´

and ³them´, even though such language would not then be thought of along personal lines, but not only is this not in evidence in the Qur¶an,

Whenever in the Qur¶an Allah is mentioned in the third person there are always singular

pronouns used, such as He, him (Huwa or Hu). Whenever Allah is spoken to in the second person there are also singular pronouns, such as Thou, Thine, and Thee (Anta, Ka). However

only in the first person some times the pronouns I, My or Mine (Ana, Iyaya, ya) are used and

sometimes We, Us and Our (Nahnu, Na) are used.2

But according to Muslim logic it is not even permi ssibl e for others to speak of Allah this way.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Naseer Ahmad Faruqui, in a statement that orthodox Muslims would be

forced to agree with, says:

For Allah, according to the context, the Holy Quran uses all the three pronouns of the first person, the second person and third person. Please note, that so far as the second or third

persons are concerned, the Holy Quran uses the singular pronoun only, i.e., Thee or He, and

that these are the only pronouns that man can possibly use to address Allah, or to speak of Him. To quote examples: "Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help" (1:4) and

"Say: He, Allah, is One"(112:1).3

(Bold original; underline mine)

But why is it illegitimate for others to refer to Allah in the plural if the basis for Allah

speaking this way is because of his many names and attributes? Are Allah¶s names and

attributes only relevant or real when Allah is speaking about himself but not when others are

speaking about him or to him?

Second, in everything a plurality of attributes inheres, and yet one doesn¶t on this account use

first person plural pronouns to speak of oneself. If using first person plurals can be justified

on this basis, then it would be appropriate for each and every individual to speak about

themselves this way, for there would be no fundamental difference between the reason Allah

has for speaking after this fashion and the reason each individual would have.4

Third, Allah is said to be absolutely one, such that he is above all plurality, including a

plurality of attributes. His unity is said to be higher than ours; he is said to transcend the kind

of unity that applies to creatures. So if Allah is one in the same sense that everything else is

one, i.e. one being with many properties or attributes, as this explanation of the pronouns

requires, than he is not one and unique in the sense that the Qur¶an (in other places) allegedly

says that he is.5

Finally, if Allah, in spite of the contradiction involved, is one in every sense and yet has

many attributes, and if this is consistent with using first person plural pronouns, then the viewthat God exists as a plurality of persons is all the more fitting and consistent with suchlanguage, and this for at least two reasons: a) the latter is truer to the actual meaning of these

terms, for the pronouns are personal rather than impersonal; and b) if the unitarian deity of Islam possessing multiple attributes such as omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, is

reason for using first person plural pronouns for him, how much more would such language point to the Biblical God, who, by virtue of His Tri-personal nature, possesses a fullness of

attributes. The Biblical God not only has attributes like the aforementioned, but He eternally,independently and immutably possesses such per sonal attributes as love, fellowship,



communication, harmony, etc. These are eternal, necessary and essential attributes of theBiblical God, but on the view of Allah held by Muslims such attributes could at best only be

contingent, i.e. dependent. In other words, even if, to make Allah appear more personal andto allow for his having many attributes, his transcendence, uniqueness and unity are watered

down, the Allah of Islam would still fall short of the fullness of being that characterizes the

true God. So even if one grants that Allah has certain attributes, he still appears altogether

bland compared to the living and true God who is tri-personal: ³Unless we grasp these [the persons of the Godhead], only the bare and empty name of deity flits about in our brains, to

the exclusion of the true God,´6

and by comparison only a scant number of attributes could

even be predicated of such a being.7

This means that if God says ³We´ and ³Us´ because he

has many attributes, Allah would have less warrant for speaking this way than does the

Living and True God.

Allah and His Signs

Although no Muslim (at least that I am aware of) has taught the following idea, perhaps one

could say that the plural pronouns refer to Allah and his signs, which are frequently

mentioned together in the Qur¶an. This view will not work, but it is no more or less justifiableor problematic than the other views that Muslims have come up with, and so a brief word can

be said about it here.

In the first place, there are indeed many passages where Allah says We in the same context

where he mentions his signs, but most of the occasions where plural pronouns are used are in

passages where there is no mention made of Allah¶s signs.

Secondly, there are times when Allah speaks of his signs in the first person singular (rather

than the plural as this view requires), such as the following:

And believe in what I reveal, confirming the revelation which is with you, and be not the first

to reject faith therein, nor sell My Signs for a small price; and fear Me, and Me alone. (S.

2:41)

It was We who revealed the Law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard

have been judged the Jews, by the Prophets who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah¶s Will, by the

Rabbis and the Doctors of Law: for to them was entrusted the protection of Allah¶s Book, and

they were witnesses thereto: therefore fear not men, but fear Me, and sell not My Signs for a

miserable price. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no

better than) Unbelievers. (S. 5:44)

O ye assembly of Jinns and men! Came there not unto you messengers from amongst you,

setting forth unto you My Signs, and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours? Theywill say: ³We bear witness against Ourselves.´ It was the life of this world that deceivedthem. So against themselves will they bear witness that they rejected Faith. (S. 6:130)

There are also passages where Allah uses both the first person singular and the first person

plural to speak of his signs.

O ye Children of Adam! Whenever there come to you Messengers from amongst you,

rehearsing My Signs unto you ± those who are righteous and mend (their lives) ± on them



shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. But those who reject Our Signs and treat them witharrogance ± they are Companions of the Fire to dwell therein (forever). (S. 7:35-36)

Those who behave arrogantly on the earth in defiance of right ± them will I turn away from

My Signs: even if they see all the Signs, they will not believe in them; and if they see the way

of right conduct they will not adopt it as the Way; but if they see the way of error, that is the

Way they will adopt. For they have rejected Our Signs, and failed to take warning fromthem. Those who reject Our Sings and the Meeting in the hereafter ± vain are their deeds:

can they expect to be rewarded except as they have wrought? (S. 7:146-147)

Third, many passages distinguish between the ³We´ and the ³signs´ of Allah. For example:

Say: Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel ± for he brings down the (revelation) to thy heart by

Allah¶s will, a confirmation of what went before, and guidance and glad tidings for those who believe ± Whoever is an enemy to Allah and His angels and prophets, to Gabriel and Michael

± Lo! Allah is an enemy to those who reject Faith. We have sent d own to thee manifest Signs (ayat); and none reject them but those who are perverse. (S. 2:97-99)

Ask the Children of Israel how many Clear (Signs) We have sent them. But if anyone, After Allah¶s favour has come to him, substitutes (something else), Allah is strict in punishment.

(S. 2:211)

These are the Signs of Allah: We r ehear se them to thee in truth: verily thou art one of the


On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person ± unless

it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land ± it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.

Then although there came to them Our Messengers with Clear Signs, yet, even after that,many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. (S. 5:32)

Thus did We try some of them by comparison with others, that they should say: ³Is it these

then that Allah hath favoured from amongst us?´ Doth not Allah know best those who are

grateful? When those come to thee who believe in Our Signs, say: ³Peace be on you;´ your

Lord hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy: verily, if any of you did evil in

ignorance, and thereafter repented, and amended (his conduct), lo! He is Oft-Forgiving, Most

Merciful. Thus do We ex plain the Signs in detail: that the way of sinners may be shown up.

(S. 6:53-55)

It is He Who sendeth the Winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before His Mercy: when

they have carried the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them to a land that is dead, make rain to

descend thereon, and produce every kind of harvest therewith: thus shall We raise up thedead: perchance ye may remember. From the land that is clean and good, by the Will of its

Cherisher, springs up produce, (rich) after its kind: but from the land that is bad, springs up

nothing but that which is niggardly: thus do we ex plain the Signs by various (symbols) to

those who are grateful. (S. 7:57-58)8

Such are Signs of Allah, which We r ehear se to thee in truth: then in what exposition will

they believe after (rejecting) Allah and His Signs? (S. 45:6)



Per the above, Allah¶s signs are that which he, speaking in the first person plural, sendsdown, rehearses, explains, etc. If ³We´ send down, rehearse, and explain the signs, then

³We´ are not the signs but are separate from them.

Fourth, Allah says ³We´ when saying or doing something that could not be done by his signs.

A few examples shall suffice:

The Jews say: ³Allah¶s hand is tied up.´ Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the

(blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He giveth and spendeth

(Of His bounty) as He pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth

in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Among st them W e have placed

enmit y an hat r ed t ill the Day of Judg ement . Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth

extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah loveth not those who

do mischief. (S. 5:64-65)

When (thus) Our punishment took them, no cry did they utter but this: ³Indeed we didwrong.´ Then shall W e quest ion those to whom Our Message was sent and those by whom

We sent it. And verily W e shall r ecount their whol e story with k nowl edg e, for We were never

absent (at any time or place). (S. 7:5-7)

Quite clearly the signs of Allah did not ³place enmity´ among the Jews, and neither shall they

³question´ anyone or ³recount their whole story with knowledge´.

The same sort of analysis could be given to any similar view that one might offer, such as: it

refers to Allah and his words; Allah and his decrees; etc.

Conclusion

Once again we have seen the difficulty of trying to explain the first person plural pronouns ina way that is consistent with the Islamic understanding of Allah and the way Muslims read

their Qur¶an. Whereas the attempt to say they refer to Allah and his names and attributes

represents an improvement upon the other views, for it at least partially recognizes the fact

that the terms are to be taken literally and are being used almost exclusively for Allah, at the

same time this view still does not withstand scrutiny. Moreover, we¶ve also seen that such

language, when taken literally and exclusively for Allah, and when explained by an appeal to

the divine attributes, is much more consistent with the Christian rather than the orthodox

Muslim view of God, for the Biblical God is not only a plurality of persons, but as such is a

self-contained fullness of divine perfections or attributes. For these reasons, another

explanation for Allah¶s use of first person plurals must be sought and found by Muslims, for

this one not only does not succeed, it backfires.

Footnotes1 Ibn Taymiyah, I bid., p. 109. Notice that, as Ibn Taymiyyah formulates it, every time Allah

uses first person plurals they carry these three meanings, which is absurd. Since these views

are mutually exclusive, at best a passage could have one or another meaning; certainly no



passage, much less every passage, could bear all three senses at once. The plurals cannot beunderstood literally and inclusively at the same time they are understood figuratively and

exclusively or literally and exclusively (and vice versa). These categories and explanationsare mutually exclusive.2

Siddiqi, Why does Allah the Lord use the word ³We´ to refer to Himself? 3

Faruqui, When Allah is ONE, Why Does He Use the Pronoun µWe¶ for Himself in the

Holy Qur¶an? 4

Just because a person has a plurality of attributes doesn¶t mean he gets to drive in the

carpool lane or receive a group discount.5

If one believes that the logical contradiction between saying Allah is absolutely one and that

he has many attributes can be resolved, then in principle Muslims cannot object to

Trinitarianism for its teaching that God is both one and many, especially since the latter does

not assert something so patently irrational. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity does not try

to wed the misguided Islamic notion of God as one in every respect with the Biblically

revealed truth that God is many in other respects. Christians believe that God is one in

cer t ain sen ses of the term (essence, nature, being, etc.) and many in other r es pects (attributes,

persons, etc.).6 John Calvin, I n st itutes of the Chri st ian Religion (Philadelphia: the Westminster Press), p.

1227 This observation will become particularly relevant in Part IV.8

³We´ not capitalized in YA.



Part IV

By Anthony Rogers

Introduction

The previous articles (1, 2, 3) in this series have looked at the three basic approaches thatMuslims can and have taken in trying to explain the reason and meaning of Allah¶s use of

first person plural pronouns in the Qur¶an: 1) literal/inclusive; 2) figurative/exclusive; and 3)literal/exclusive. In terms of these approaches Muslims have contrived, seized upon and

confidently declared many different answers: the plurals refer to (1a) Allah and the angels,

(1b) Allah and Gabriel, or (1c) Allah, Gabriel and Muhammad(?); or they are (2a) majestic plurals, (2b) plurals of respect, or (2c) an indication that Allah is beyond personhood; or theyrefer to (3a) Allah and his names and attributes (or his signs, or words, or decrees, etc.).1 In

no single instance has a justifiable, problem-free explanation been found. Given the insoluble

problems that exist for saying that the plural pronouns refer to someone other than or in

addition to Allah, or that they refer to Allah in some idiomatic way, or even that they refer to

Allah and his names, attributes, deeds or whatever else, it should come as no surprise that

some Muslims have, as it were, thrown up their hands, relegating the meaning to Allah alone.



Allah Knows Best (But His Lips Are Sealed)

Unlike the other positions, this trouble-born and problem-riddled ³solution´ actually has

some precedent for it in Islam¶s primary sources. The Qur¶an itself says there are some verses

that are so unclear that only Allah knows their true meanings:

³He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: in it are verses basic or fundamental (of

established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are not of well-established

meaning. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is not of well-

established meaning. Seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meaning, but no one

knows its true meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge

say: ³We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:´ and none will grasp the

Message except men of understanding. (Surah 3:7)

According to many authorities (Ibn Kathir, Ibn Abbas, et. al.), the first eighty plus verses of Surah three, inclusive of the above verse, were sent down as a reply to the Christians of

Najran who argued for the Trinity and the deity of Christ.

If the phenomena in question are relegated to the category of things ³not of well-established

meaning´, mut a shabihat , and if verses in this category are things that no one knows the true

meanings of except Allah, then not only does this confirm that none of the answers critiqued

in the previous papers could be (known to be) true, for then someone other than Allah would

know their meanings, it means that those Muslims who have tried to explain them are guilty

of searching for that which is hidden, thereby intruding upon the secrets of Allah, and

speaking presumptuously in his name, which is nothing other than shirk. As the following

source says:

Then Allah (swt) clearly says ³But none knows their interpretation except Allah´. How can

you be more explicit than this? When Allah (swt) Himself, the One Who Knows all things,

the One Who sent this Book, is saying that only He (swt) Knows the meaning of these ayahs

then how can you go and produce your own interpretation? How dare you show such

insolence to the Lord and Master of all things? Since only Allah (swt) Knows the

interpretation of these mutashabiyat [ sic] ayahs we should refrain from trying to interpretthese ayahs at all costs. It is part of our humility and our submission to Allah (swt) that we

stop our minds from going into realms concerning which Allah (swt) has not given us anyknowledge. Allah (swt) is telling us that only He (swt) Knows the interpretation of these

ayahs so we have to stop ourselves from trying to interpret them. We have to submit our minds to Allah (swt) just like we submit our limbs and our hearts to Him (swt). May Allah

(swt) give us the ability to do that! May Allah (swt) give us humility before His (swt)¶s

Book! May Allah (swt) save us from interpreting the ayahs for which only He (swt) Knows

the true meaning!2

(Emphasis mine)

Not only does this answer create trouble for the other interpretations; it has troubles of its

own.

In the first place, the verses that involve Allah speaking in the first person plural are found allthroughout the Qur¶an; if such verses cannot be understood, then this renders a large portion

of the Qur¶an meaningless to everyone except for Allah, which seriously impinges on theclaim that the Qur¶an is basically a clear book and a source of guidance. It also affects the



claim that no one can produce Surahs like those found in the Qur¶an, for eloquence andrhetorical frippery are easy enough to produce when not hampered by the demands of saying

anything intelligible. (And one may well ask, ³If there are a great many passages that canonly be understood by Allah, in which cases Allah would simply be talking to himself, then

what is the point of revealing such verses in the first place?´)

Secondly, this rejection of any interpretation of the ³unclear´ verses begs the question: Sincethe Qur¶an does not tell us which verses are unclear, how do Muslims know certain verses are

unclear before they even try to understand them? If they start the attempt of understanding

and explaining them, they may already commit a sin, if it turns out that this or that verse is

one of the unclear ones that are supposed to be left unclear. On the other hand, it cannot be

the solution to stay away from understanding all verses out of fear that they might not be

supposed to be understood. So, with all the piety that the above quote radiates, it is actually

nonsense.

In fact, does a Muslim have any chance at NOT transgressing? Given that one cannot know

which verses are clear or unclear before they try to examine and understand them, they either

transgress by being haughty and insolent by attempting to understand what only Allah can

understand, or they transgress against the command of Allah to seek understanding when theydo not try to understand what may or may not be unclear. Because, if at first attempt one does

not understand a certain verse, does that mean they should not try, or they did not try hardenough?

Thirdly, this apparent dodge does not seem to take seriously into account the fact that there is

a limited range to the kinds of answers that could possibly be given to explain such passages

± 1) literal/inclusive, 2) figurative/exclusive, and 3) literal/exclusive ± all of which Muslims

have spent themselves on. Whatever answer Allah would have for the meaning of these

plurals would necessarily fall into one or another of the three categories in terms of which

Muslims have already tried to explain them; there simply is no fourth way available to Allah

anymore than Muslims that would be consistent with Islamic teaching. But answers that fallinto the first category are not possible for reason of what was discussed in the first article in

this series, and the answers generated by the second and third categories were shown to be problematic in the second and third articles.

Finally, passing off the meaning to Allah, looks like little more than employing a ³pious´

device to get out of answering something that seems to clearly demand some kind of explanation. The use of first person plurals by Allah appears contrary not just to some

peripheral teaching of Islam, nor even to one core teaching of Islam among many others of

equal importance; rather, it conflicts with what is purportedly the foremost teaching of Islam

± Tawhid or Islamic monotheism. This is the doctrine Muhammad supposedly brought in its

purity and with pristine clarity. Any failure or refusal to resolve the meaning of these verses

brings this claim into serious question and looks like an attempt at damage control on the partof Muhammad and those who follow him in applying Surah 3:7 to issues like the one before

us.3

Allah Knows Best (Or Does He?)

With that said, not all Quranic interpreters agree on the meaning of Surah 3:7 (a fact that ismore than a little bit ironic since it raises the possibility that this passage is one of those that



are ambiguous). While many authorities say this passage means that no one knows the trueexegesis of the verses which are ³not of well-established meaning´ except for Allah; other

authorities say Surah 3:7 means that the verses that are ³not of well-established meaning´ areknown by no one except for Allah and those with k nowl edg e. Muslim Mahmoud Ayoub

explains these different interpretations and their pedigree:

The phrase ³Yet no one knows its exegesis except God, and those who are firmly rooted inknowledge say´ raised two important questions for commentators: (1) What is the aspect or

level of the exegesis of the Qu¶ran which God alone knows, and which He has withheld from

His creatures? and, (2) Is knowledge of the ultimate interpretation (t a¶ wil ) hidden from all

men or is it disclosed to ³those who are firmly rooted in knowledge´? We shall discuss these

two related issues together«.

Tabari « notes the disagreement among commentators concerning the reading of this part of

the verse. He writes: ³Are those who are firmly rooted in knowledge to be conjoined to the

name of God, in that they too possess knowledge of the mut a shabih? or is this the beginning

of a new statement in which they say, ³We believe in the mut a shabih, and we believe that

knowledge of it is with God alone?¶´ The question which Tabari poses here is whether the

verse should read ³Yet no one knows its exegesis except God and those who are firmlyrooted in knowledge. They say «´ or ³Yet no one knows its exegesis except God, and those

who are firmly rooted in knowledge say «´ It is important to observe here that the second isthe more widely accepted reading, as it is the reading of the official Egyptian edition. This

reading is reported on many authorities including those of Ibn µAbbas, A¶ishah, Hisham b.µUrwah b. al-Zubayr, the pious caliph µUmar b. µAbd al-µAziz, and others.

The other reading is likewise reported on the authority of many important early traditionists.

Tabari expresses their view as follows: ³Rather the meaning of the verse is µNo one knows its

exegesis except God and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge¶, for, even though they

have knowledge of it, as they are firmly rooted in knowledge, they still say, µWe have faith in

it, for it is all from our Lord.¶´ This view is likewise reported on the authority of Ibn µAbbasand his famous disciple Mujahid, as well as the authority al-Rabi b. Anas and Muhammad b.

Ja`far b. al-Zubayr «4

The interpretation that those with knowledge are to be conjoined with Allah is the viewrepresented in Ibn Ishaq¶s S irat Ra sul Allah, one of Islam¶s earliest sources. Moreover, Ibn

Ishaq¶s account also tells us that this verse, Surah 3:7, was part of the response sent down toMuhammad to give in reply to the Christians of Najran, and includes the fact that they argued

with Muhammad saying that Allah should simply say ³I´ and not also ³We´ if he is only one

and not also many.

A deputation of the Christians of Najran came to the apostle«.

« They were Christians according to the Byzantine rite, though they differed amongthemselves in some points, saying He is God; and He is the son of God; and He is the third

person of the Trinity, which is the doctrine of Christianity. They argue that he is God becausehe used to raise the dead, and heal the sick, and declare the unseen; and make clay birds and

then breathe into them so that they flew away; and all this was by the command of GodAlmighty, µWe shall make him a sign to men.¶ They argue that he is the son of God in that

they say he had no known father; and he spoke in the cradle and this is something that nochild of Adam has ever done. They argue that he is the third of three in that God says:



We have done, We have commanded, We have created and We have decreed, and they

say, If He were only one he would have said I have done, I have created, and so on,

because He is He and Jesus and Mary. Concerning all these assertions the Quran came down.

« So God sent down concerning their words and their incoherence the beginning of the

sura of the Family of µImran up to more than eighty verses , and He said: µAlif Lam Mim.

God there is no God but He the Living the Ever-existent.¶«. µHe it is who has sent down tothee the book which has plain verses: they are the core of the book¶, in them is the divine

argument, the protection of (His) creatures, and the thrusting aside of controversy and

falsehood. These are not subject to modification or alteration in the meaning which has been

given. µAnd others are obscure¶, they are subject to modification and interpretation. By them

God tests His creatures as He tests them with things permitted and forbidden that they should

not be changed into what is false and altered by declining from the truth. µBut as to those in

whose hearts is a deviation,¶ i.e. turning away from true guidance, µthey follow what is

ambiguous,¶ i.e. what can be otherwise interpreted to substantiate thereby what they have

invented and introduced anew that they may have an argument and a plausible reason for

their doctrine, µdesiring f it na,¶ i.e. confusion, and µdesiring an arbitrary interpretation,¶ e.g.the error they adopted in explaining µWe created¶ and µWe decreed¶. µAnd none knows its

interpretation,¶ i.e. what they mean by it, µexcept God; and those grounded inknowledge.¶ They say, µWe believe in it. Everything comes from our Lord.¶ So how can there

be any controversy when it is one speech from one Lord? Then they carry over theinterpretation of the obscure to the plain which can have only one meaning and thus the book

becomes consistent, one part confirming another, the argument effective and the case clear;falsehood is excluded and unbelief is overcome. µNone but the intelligent take heed¶ in this

way. µO Lord, Suffer not our hearts to go astray after Thou has guided us,¶ i.e. Do not let our

hearts swerve, though we swerve aside through our sins. µGrant us mercy from Thy presence.

Thou art the Generous Giver.¶ Then He says, µGod witnesses that there is no God but He, and

the angels and the men of knowledge too¶ contrary to what they say µsubsisting ever in

justice,¶ i.e. in equity. µThere is no God but He, the Mighty the Wise. The religion with God

is Islam,¶ i.e. the religion you practice, O Muhammad, acknowledging the oneness of God

and confirming the apostles. µThose to whom the book was brought differed only after

knowledge had come to them,¶ i.e. that which came to thee, namely that God is one without

associate, µthrough transgression among themselves. And whosoever disbelieves in God¶s

revelations ± God is swift to take into account. And if they argue with thee,¶ i.e. with the false

doctrine they produce about µWe created,¶ µWe did¶, and µWe commanded¶, it is only a

specious argument devoid of truth. µSay, I have surrendered my purpose to God,¶ i.e. to Him

alone, µas have those who follow me. And say to those who received the book and to thegentile (converts) who have no book, µHave you surrendered? For if they have surrendered

they will be rightly guided and if they turn their backs it is only incumbent on thee to deliver the message. And God sees (His) servants.¶

5(Emphasis mine)

This answer ascribed to Muhammad likewise adds its support to the argument of the previous papers, for in Ibn Ishaq¶s account Muhammad does not explain the first person plurals as

somehow a reference to himself, Jibreel, or the angels along with Allah, and neither does he

resolve them as a ³plural of majesty´ or as a reference to Allah¶s names and attributes.6

As well, this answer also empties all the unclear and ambiguous passages which are subject to

alteration, modification, and interpretation ± among which are not only passages about Christ,

but also those where Allah uses first person plurals ± of all value, since only those that are

clear and are part of the core of the book contain ³the divine argument´ and are useful for



³the protection of (His) creatures, and the thrusting aside of controversy.´ If it is replied thatthese passages still serve some purpose, namely so that Allah may test ³His creatures as He

tests them with things permitted and forbidden that they should not be changed into what isfalse and altered by declining from the truth´, then their only value is in providing the

occasion for testing but not also for passing the test, since the test is to see if they will obey

certain parts of the Qur¶an, i.e. those that are clear, and ignore the other parts, i.e. those that

are not clear. And this of course raises the thorny problem of how one discerns which versesare clear and which are not since the Qur¶an does not delineate them. And even if Muslim

authorities are given primacy here in making up for this deficiency in the Qur¶an, so that they

get to pronounce which verses are clear and which are unclear, how does one decide what

authority to follow in cases where such authorities contradict each other (as they often do)?

Worse still, and notwithstanding the above, although Ibn Ishaq¶s account follows the

interpretation that conjoins Allah and those with knowledge so that the latter are also said to

know what is meant by the unclear passages, this story actually ends up bringing into

question whether anyone ± Allah, Muhammad, and those with knowledge included ± knows

what such verses mean, for the proffered answer is nothing more than a makeshift response.

To say that the clear passages are to be given priority of place over the supposedly unclear passages is not to tell us what the ³unclear´ passages mean or how they harmonize with the

³clear´ passages. According to the above, the ³unclear´ passages are unclear because they areambiguous, meaning they could have more than one meaning. The clear passages are

supposed to tell us which one of these many meanings to select for.

Allah states that in the Qur¶an, there are Ayat that are Muhkamat, entirely clear and plain,

and these are the foundations of the Book which are plain for everyone. And there are Ayat in

the Qur¶an that are Mutashabihat not entirely clear for many, or some people. So those who

refer to the Muhkam Ayat to understand the Mutashabih Ayat, will have acquired the correct

guidance, and vice versa. This is why Allah said,

(They are the foundations of the Book), meaning they are the basis of the Qur¶an, and should

be referred to for clarification, when warranted.

(And others not entirely clear) as they have several meanings, some that agree with the

Muhkam and some that carry other literal indications, although these meaning [ sic]

might not be desired.7

(Emphasis mine)

While it is obvious how these ³unclear´ passages could be understood to communicate

personal plurality as in the case of the Christian belief in the Trinity, and Ibn Ishaq¶s account

admits that the (alleged) ambiguity of such verses makes it possible to ³have an argument and

a plausible reason for their doctrine´, what is the other interpretation of these passages that

make it possible to explain them in a way that does not point to Allah being a plurality of persons or, worse yet for the Muslim perspective, a plurality of gods? If the clear passagestell us to select for the interpretation that agrees with Tawhid, what is that interpretation? On

what interpretation or theory do the otherwise ³unclear´ passages teach that Allah is one inevery sense? Muhammad¶s purported reply does not answer this at all.

The above artifice was recognized for what it was long before Muhammad decided to employ

this ruse. According to the following Jewish midrash dating from around the third centuryafter Christ, and much evidence exists showing Muhammad had some familiarity with



rabbinic teachings,8

this is the way some unbelieving Jews after the coming of Christ soughto deal with the passages in the Bible where God uses first person plurals (e.g. Genesis 1:26,

3:22, 11:7, etc.).

Rabbi Simlai said: ³Wherever you find a point supporting the heretics [e.g., Trinitarians], you

find the refutation at its side.´ They asked him again: ³What is meant by, AND GOD SAID:

LET US MAKE MAN?´ [Genesis 1:26] ³Read what follows,´ replied he: ³Not, µand godscreated man¶ is written here, but µAnd God created (Gen. 1:27).¶´ When they [the heretics]

went out his disciples said to him: ³Them you have di smi ssed with a mere makeshift , but how

will you an swer us?´9

(Emphasis mine)

In the above account, the attempt is made to dismiss what is taught in one verse with what is

supposedly taught in the next. This does nothing to explain how both passages teach the same

thing and that God¶s revealed truth is internally consistent. As the disciples of this Rabbi

realized, deflecting attention away from a ³problem´ passage does not address the problem.

And in the case of the Qur¶an, there are an incredible number of such problem passages.

The above illustrates that Muhammad did not have an explanation for these passages even

though he thought he was offering one, and this in turn points up the fact that Muhammadwas not one of ³those with knowledge´. Moreover, since this non-answer purportedly came

down from Allah, it suggests that Allah was just as ill-informed and ill-equipped to answer

this question as Muhammad was.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to say that only Allah (and possibly those with knowledge) can be said to

know what these expressions mean is either a cop-out at best or a makeshift impugning

Allah¶s knowledge at worst. This is an implicit acknowledgment that the passages do not

teach what others have asserted; Muslims do not know what these passages mean (and

Muhammad didn¶t either); and Allah does not know best.

Footnotes1

The very existence of so many divergent answers suggests that the Qur¶an does not clearly

establish the meaning of first person plurals when uttered by Allah.2

Abdur Raheem As-Saranbi, Tafsir Surah Ale-Imran, part I (Ayahs 1-100), p. 24-253 For more on this, refer to the following article: Muhammad¶s Attempt of Damage

Control.4Mahmoud Ayoub, The Qur¶an and Its I nterpr eter s: The House of I mran, Vol. II (Albany,

New York: State University of New York Press, 1992), p. 39-40. A partial view of this book

is available online, see here.5

A Guillaume, The Li fe of Muhammad, A T ran slat ion of I bn Ishaq¶ s S irat Ra sul Allah

(Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 271-2746

In addition it may be noted that the Christians of Najran, who also spoke Arabic, don¶t

appear to know anything about the plural of majesty so readily suggested by later Muslims assomehow a feature of Arabic grammar.



7Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Surah 3:7. Online source.

8 Evidence for this is discussed in the following: Muhammad the Borrower; Judaism and

Islam; Cain and Abel in the Qur¶an; and Legends, Myths and Fables In the Qur¶an and

Islamic Tradition.9 Genesi s Rabbah, VIII. 8



Part V

By Anthony Rogers

Introduction

The inability of Muslims to cogently explain the divine plurals of the Qur¶an (1, 2, 3), or evento convincingly write off the necessity of explaining them on the grounds that only Allah

knows what they mean (4), leads us back to the observation with which this series started: the plurals of the Qur¶an appear to present a problem for Islamic monotheism; if we take this

language of the Qur¶an as it stands, it does not comport with the central teaching of Islam ±

Tawhid. The total collapse under scrutiny of any explanation for the divine plurals is strong

evidence that this problem is not only apparent but genuine.

Since Muslims, for no fault of their own since they are shackled here by the constraints the

Qur¶an and Islamic theology place upon them, cannot show how the divine plurals can beinterpreted so as to harmonize with the absolute monotheism supposedly taught elsewhere in

the Qur¶an, the door is opened to consider another possible reason for the inclusion of these

divine plurals that has not been considered by Muslims.

Ill-Informed Borrowing

Although there are certainly other possibilities, one promising explanation is that

Muhammad, either because he was deceived into believing or because he was trying to

convince others that he was proclaiming the same God that spoke to the prophets and by the

apostles, picked up this practice from Jews and Christians without understanding the reason

behind its presence in the prophetic writings, much like he picked up many other things fromJews and Christians unaware of their true sense.

1In his misguided efforts to mimic what he

heard from Jewish and Christian sources, both of which present God speaking this way, it is

quite plausible that Muhammad borrowed these expressions without understanding what they

meant in their original context. In the Bible such expressions clearly point to the uni-plural

nature of Yahweh, the Triune God;2

in Muhammad¶s hands they become unclear and empty

expressions put in the mouth of an equally empty unitarian deity.



Not only is there general evidence for at least the possibility that Muhammad could havederived this language from Jews and Christians, for his contact with and penchant for

borrowing from Jews and Christians is easily attested and well known in many other cases, but there is some specific evidence that is consistent with and supportive of the idea that this

is the case when it comes to the use of plural expressions by Allah for himself.

According to Ibn Ishaq¶s S irat Ra sul Allah, after being pressed by the Christians of Najran onwhy Allah says ³We´, ³Us,´ and ³Our, and on why the Qur¶an applies and ascribes titles and

works to Christ that demonstrate His deity and divine Sonship, it records: ³The apostle was

silent and did not answer them.´ It was only after this period of silence that the Surah of the

F amily of I mran was supposedly ³sent down´ as a reply.

A deputation of the Christians of Najran came to the apostle « They were Christians

according to the Byzantine rite, though they differed among themselves in some points,

saying He is God; and He is the son of God; and He is the third person of the Trinity, which

is the doctrine of Christianity. They argue that he is God because he used to raise the dead,

and heal the sick, and declare the unseen; and make clay birds and then breath into them so

that they flew away; and all this was by the command of God Almighty, µWe will make him a

sign to men.¶ They argue that he is the son of God in that they say he had no known father;and he spoke in the cradle and this is something that no child of Adam has ever done They

argue that he is the third of three in that God says: We have done, We have commanded, Wehave created and We have decreed, and they say, If He were one he would have said I have

done, I have created, and so on, but He is He and Jesus and Mary. Concerning all theseassertions the Quran came down.

When the two divines spoke to him the apostle said to them, µSubmit yourselves.¶ They said,

µWe have submitted.¶ He said: µYou have not submitted, so submit.¶ They said, µNay, but we

submitted before you.¶ He said, µYou lie. Your assertion that God has a son, your worship of

the cross, and your eating pork hold you back from submission.¶ They said, µBut who is his

father, Muhammad?¶ T he apostle was silent and did not answer them. So God sent downconcerning their words and their incoherence the beginning of the sura of the Family of

µImran up to more than eighty verses, and He said: µAlif Lam Mim ...¶3

(Emphasis mine)

At least three things appear from this relevant to the point being made here:

1) Muhammad¶s delay in answering what the Christians of Najran had spoken to himdemonstrates that he unthinkingly picked up and employed plural expressions for God and

said things about Jesus; otherwise Muhammad would have had an answer on the spot. As itis, in Ibn Ishaq¶s account Muhammad clearly appears to have been flummoxed.

2) The Christians who were questioning Muhammad naturally thought there was a connection

between Muhammad¶s portrayal of Allah using first person plurals and that which they werefamiliar with as people of the Book (just like they recognized from their writings some of thethings the Qur¶an says about Jesus ± His virgin birth, mighty miracles, etc.).

3) The ³answer´ that Muhammad eventually came back with, particularly on Allah¶s use of

first person plural pronouns, which is equivalent to the answer found in post-Christian Jewishwritings, belies a Jewish influence on Muhammad¶s thinking in connection to this issue (see

part IV).



Moreover, if Muhammad was not discomfited by his use of plural pronouns spoken by Allahwhen the incongruity of doing so was brought to his attention, and if he actually was

confident that the answer he had provided was a satisfactory solution or explanation of the problem, why when we turn to the first eighty verses of Surah 3, the verses that were given as

a response to the Christians of Najran, do we find Muhammad radically scaling back, in

comparison to the practice observed in other Surahs, the use of first person plurals by Allah?

In fact, in all eighty plus verses only two instances of the use of the plural can be found onthe lips of Allah, namely 3:25 and 3:44.

The available evidence makes it appear entirely plausible and quite possible that Muhammad

originally borrowed this way of speaking from Jews and Christians and was caught off-guard

and justly embarrassed when the implications of it were pointed out to him.

Borrowing and Bumbling

This confused borrowing, or whatever accounts for the presence of such plurals in the

Qur¶an, coupled with Muhammad¶s semi-illiteracy, which Muslims are wont to call

eloquence, makes it possible to argue that the Qur¶an teaches something akin to the Trinity(even if not a trinity of the Father, M ary, and the Son, a notion Muhammad imputed to

Christians even though it is not a teaching of Christianity4).

Since the Arabic words used by Allah (nahnu, inna) indicate three or more, when Allah says

³We´, it is an indication that Allah could be three, four, five or more persons but not less than

three. As mentioned above, matters are all the more compounded by Muhammad¶s semi-

illiteracy, reflected in this connection in his bantering back and forth between first, second

and third person pronouns, both singular and plural. On this, observe the following verses

which are supposedly the direct speech of Allah:

And if ye are in doubt as to whatW

e have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then

produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides

Allah, if your (doubts) are true. (S. 2:23)

So W e said: "Strike the (body) with a piece of the (heifer)." Thus Allah bringeth the dead to

life and showeth you H i s Signs: perchance ye may understand. (S. 2:73)

And remember W e took a covenant from the Children of Israel (to this effect): worship none

but Allah; treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need; speak

fair to the people; be steadfast in prayer; and practise regular charity. Then did ye turn back,

except a few among you, and ye backslide (even now). (S. 2:83)

Except those who repent and make amends and openly declare (the Truth): to them I turn; for I am Oft-returning, Most Merciful. Those who reject Faith, and die rejecting,- on them is

Allah' s curse, and the curse of angels, and of all mankind; « (S. 2:160-161)

O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that W e have provided for you, and be grateful to

Allah, if it is H im ye worship. (S. 2:172)

As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the

Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help. As to those who believe and work



righteousness, Allah will pay them (in full) their reward; but Allah loveth not those who dowrong. (S. 3:56-57)

Soon shall W e cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions

with Allah, for which He had sent no authority: their abode will be the Fire: and evil is the

home of the wrong-doers! (S. 3:151)

If any do that in rancour and injustice,- soon shall W e cast them into the Fire: and easy it is

for Allah. (S. 4:30)

To (benefit) every one, W e have appointed shares and heirs to property left by parents and

relatives. To those, also, to whom your right hand was pledged, give their due portion. For truly Allah is witness to all things. (S. 4:33)

If W e had ordered them to sacrifice their lives or to leave their homes, very few of them

would have done it: but if they had done what they were (actually) told, it would have been best for them, and would have gone farthest to strengthen their (faith); and W e should then

have given them from our presence a great reward; and W e should have shown them the

Straight Way. All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom isthe Grace of Allah,- of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses

(who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! what a beautiful fellowship! Such is the

bounty from Allah: And sufficient is it that Allah knoweth all. (S. 4:66-70)

In most of their secret talks there is no good: but if one exhorts to a deed of charity or justice

or conciliation between men, (Secrecy is permissible): to him who does this, seeking the good

pleasure of Allah, W e shall soon give a reward of the highest (value). (S. 4:114)

But those who believe and do deeds of righteousness,- we shall soon admit them to gardens,

with rivers flowing beneath,- to dwell therein for ever. Allah' s promise is the truth, and whoseword can be truer than Allah' s? (S. 4:122)

These were the men to whom W e gave the Book, and authority, and prophethood: if these

(their descendants) reject them, behold! W e shall entrust their charge to a new people who

reject them not. Those were the (prophets) who received Allah' s guidance: copy the guidance

they received; Say: "No reward for this do I ask of you: this is no less than a message for the

nations." (S. 6:89-90)

Even if W e did send unto them angels, and the dead did speak unto them, and W e gathered

together all things before their very eyes, they are not the ones to believe, unless it is in

Allah' s plan. But most of them ignore (the truth). Likewise did W e make for every Messenger

an enemy,- evil ones among men and jinns, inspiring each other with flowery discourses by

way of deception. If thy Lord had so planned, they would not have done it: so leave them andtheir inventions alone. (S. 6:111-112)

Such were the towns whose story W e (thus) relate unto thee: there came indeed to them their

messengers with clear (signs): but they would not believe what they had rejected before. Thus

doth Allah seal up the hearts of those who reject faith. (S. 7:101)

W e appointed for Moses thirty nights, and completed (the period) with ten (more): thus was

completed the term (of communion) with his Lord , forty nights. And Moses had charged his



brother Aaron (before he went up): "Act for me amongst my people: Do right, and follow notthe way of those who do mischief." (S. 7:142)

³If any do that in rancour and injustice,- soon shall W e cast them into the Fire: And easy it is

for Allah.´ (S. 4:30)

³To (benefit) every one, W e have appointed shares and heirs to property left by parents andrelatives. To those, also, to whom your right hand was pledged, give their due portion. For

truly Allah is witness to all things.´ (S. 4:33)

³Serve Allah, and join not any partners with H im; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans,

those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion byyour side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For Allah loveth not the

arrogant, the vainglorious;- (Nor) those who are niggardly or enjoin niggardliness on others,or hide the bounties which Allah hath bestowed on them; for W e have prepared, for those

who resist Faith, a punishment that steeps them in contempt;- Not those who spend of their substance, to be seen of men, but have no faith in Allah and the Last Day: If any take the Evil

One for their intimate, what a dreadful intimate he is! (S. 4:36-38)

³How then if W e brought from each people a witness, and W e brought thee as a witness

against these people! On that day those who reject Faith and disobey the messenger will wish

that the earth were made one with them: But never will they hide a single fact from Allah!´

(S. 4:41-42)

We sent not a messenger, but to be obeyed, in accordance with the will of Allah. If they had

only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah's forgiveness,

and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-

returning, Most Merciful. But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make

thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Thy

decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction. (S. 4:64-5)

³Let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him

who fighteth in the cause of Allah,- whether he is slain or gets victory - Soon shall W e give

him a reward of great (value).´ (S. 4:74)

³In most of their secret talks there is no good: But if one exhorts to a deed of charity or

justice or conciliation between men, (Secrecy is permissible): to him who does this, seeking

the good pleasure of Allah, W e shall soon give a reward of the highest (value).´ (S. 4:114)

³But to those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, He will give their (due) rewards,-

and more, out of H i s bounty: But those who are disdainful and arrogant, He will punish with

a grievous penalty; nor will they find, besides Allah, any to protect or help them. O mankind!verily there hath come to you a convincing proof from your Lord : For W e have sent unto you

a light (that is) manifest. Then those who believe in Allah, and hold fast to H im,- soon will

He admit them to mercy and grace from H im sel f , and guide them to H im sel f by a straight

way.´ (S. 4:173-175)

Allah did aforetime take a covenant from the Children of Israel, and we appointed twelve

captains among them. And Allah said: "I am with you: if ye (but) establish regular prayers,

practise regular charity, believe in my messengers, honour and assist them, and loan to Allah



a beautiful loan, verily I will wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to gardens withrivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resisteth faith, he hath truly wandered

from the path or rectitude." But because of their breach of their covenant, W e cursed them,and made their hearts grow hard; they change the words from their (right) places and forget a

good part of the message that was sent them, nor wilt thou cease to find them- barring a few -

ever bent on (new) deceits: but forgive them, and overlook (their misdeeds): for Allah loveth

those who are kind. From those, too, who call themselves Christians, W e did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message that was sent them: so we estranged them, with

enmity and hatred between the one and the other, to the day of judgment. And soon will Allah

show them what it is they have done. O people of the Book! There hath come to you our

Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much

(that is now unnecessary): There hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous

Book, - Wherewith Allah guideth all who seek H i s good pleasure to ways of peace and safety,

and leadeth them out of darkness, by H i s will, unto the light,- guideth them to a path that is

straight.´ (S. 5:13-16)

³O People of the Book! Now hath come unto you, making (things) clear unto you, Our Messenger, after the break in (the series of) our messengers, lest ye should say: "There came

unto us no bringer of glad tidings and no warner (from evil)": But now hath come unto you a bringer of glad tidings and a warner (from evil). And Allah hath power over all things.´ (S.

5:19)

It is He Who maketh the stars (as beacons) for you, that ye may guide yourselves, with their help, through the dark spaces of land and sea: W e detail Our signs for people who know. It is

He Who hath produced you from a single person: here is a place of sojourn and a place of departure: W e detail Our signs for people who understand. It is He Who sendeth down rain

from the skies: with it W e produce vegetation of all kinds: from some W e produce green

(crops), out of which W e produce grain, heaped up (at harvest); out of the date-palm and its

sheaths (or spathes) (come) clusters of dates hanging low and near: and (then there are)

gardens of grapes, and olives, and pomegranates, each similar (in kind) yet different (in

variety): when they begin to bear fruit, feast your eyes with the fruit and the ripeness thereof.

Behold! in these things there are signs for people who believe. Yet they make the Jinns

equals with Allah, though Allah did create the Jinns; and they falsely, having no knowledge,

attribute to Him sons and daughters. Praise and glory be to H im! (for He is) above what they

attribute to H im! To H im is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: How can He

have a son when He hath no consort? He created all things, and He hath full knowledge of all

things. That is Allah, your Lord ! there is no god but He, the Creator of all things: then

worship ye H im: and He hath power to dispose of all affairs. No vision can grasp H im, but

H i s grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things.

Now have come to you, from your Lord , proofs (to open your eyes): if any will see, it will be

for (the good of) his own soul; if any will be blind, it will be to his own (harm): I am not

(here) to watch over your doings. Thus do we explain the signs by various (symbols): thatthey may say, "Thou hast taught (us) diligently," and that W e may make the matter clear to

those who know. Follow what thou art taught by inspiration from th y Lord : there is no god

but He: and turn aside from those who join gods with Allah. If it had been Allah' s plan, they

would not have taken false gods: but W e made thee not one to watch over their doings, nor art

thou set over them to dispose of their affairs. (S. 6:97-107)

Follow what thou art taught by inspiration from th y Lord : there is no god but He: and turn

aside from those who join gods with Allah. If it had been Allah' s plan, they would not have



taken false gods: but W e made thee not one to watch over their doings, nor art thou set over them to dispose of their affairs. Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest

they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance. Thus have W e made alluring to each peopleits own doings. In the end will they return to their Lord , and W e shall then tell them the truth

of all that they did. (S. 6:106-108)

Even if W e did send unto them angels, and the dead did speak unto them, and W e gatheredtogether all things before their very eyes, they are not the ones to believe, unless it is in

Allah' s plan. But most of them ignore (the truth). Likewise did W e make for every Messenger

an enemy,- evil ones among men and jinns, inspiring each other with flowery discourses by

way of deception. If th y Lord had so planned, they would not have done it: so leave them and

their inventions alone. (S. 6:111-112)

Say: "Shall I seek for judge other than Allah? - when He it is Who hath sent unto you the

Book, explained in detail." They know full well, to whom W e have given the Book, that it

hath been sent down from thy Lord in truth. Never be then of those who doubt. The word of

thy Lord doth find its fulfilment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is

the one who heareth and knoweth all. Wert thou to follow the common run of those on earth,

they will lead thee away from the way of Allah. They follow nothing but conjecture: they donothing but lie. Thy Lord knoweth best who strayeth from H i s way: He knoweth best who

they are that receive H i s guidance. So eat of (meats) on which Allah' s name hath been pronounced, if ye have faith in H i s signs. Why should ye not eat of (meats) on which Allah' s

name hath been pronounced, when He hath explained to you in detail what is forbidden toyou - except under compulsion of necessity? But many do mislead (men) by their appetites

unchecked by knowledge. Thy Lord knoweth best those who transgress. (S. 6:114-119)

This is the way of thy Lord , leading straight: W e have detailed the signs for those who receive

admonition. For them will be a home of peace in the presence of their Lord : He will be their

friend, because they practised (righteousness). One day will He gather them all together, (and

say): "O ye assembly of Jinns! Much (toll) did ye take of men." Their friends amongst menwill say: "Our Lord! we made profit from each other: but (alas!) we reached our term - which

thou didst appoint for us." He will say: "The Fire be your dwelling-place: you will dwelltherein for ever, except as Allah willeth." for thy Lord is full of wisdom and knowledge. (S.

6:126-128)

Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah or rejects H i s Signs? For such,their portion appointed must reach them from the Book (of decrees): until, when our

messengers (of death) arrive and take their souls, they say: "Where are the things that ye used

to invoke besides Allah?" They will reply, "They have left us in the lurch," And they will

bear witness against themselves, that they had rejected Allah. (S. 7:37)

Call on your Lord with humility and in private: for Allah loveth not those who trespass beyond bounds. Do no mischief on the earth, after it hath been set in order, but call on H im with fear and longing (in your hearts): for the Mercy of Allah is (always) near to those who

do good. It is He Who sendeth the winds like heralds of glad tidings, going before H i s mercy:when they have carried the heavy-laden clouds, W e drive them to a land that is dead, make

rain to descend thereon, and produce every kind of harvest therewith: thus shall W e raise upthe dead: perchance ye may remember. (S. 7:55-57)



In the above passages, Allah, speaking in the first person as either ³I´, ³We´, or ³Our´, turnsaround and speaks of Allah in the third person as either ³Allah´, ³Lord´, ³He´, ³Him´ or

³Himself´. Given that the words ³We´ and ³Our´ are plural, indicating three or more, andgiven that Allah, speaking as ³We´ and ³Our´, refers to Allah in the third person, verses like

the above show that Allah is at least four persons. Even if Muslims want to go against the

evidence and insist that when Allah says ³We´, it does not indicate that he is more than one

person, then the above passages would still show that Allah is at least two, for Allah, i.e.³We´, speak in the third person of ³Allah´ or the ³Lord´ or ³Him´. In other words, on the

view that ³We´ is a genuine plural, and Muslims can¶t demonstrate otherwise, Allah is four

or more persons; on the view that ³We´ is only one person, which Muslims are far from able

to prove, then Allah is at least two persons. The same goes for the passages where Allah turns

from speaking in the first person singular to speaking of Allah in the third person singular.

Some of these verses are especially confusing on the supposition that Allah is only one

person. To take just one example from the above, Surah 6:126-128, says:

This is the way of thy Lord , leading straight: W e have detailed the signs for those who receive

admonition. For them will be a home of peace in the presence of their Lord : He will be their

friend, because they practised (righteousness). One day will He gather them all together, (andsay): "O ye assembly of Jinns! Much (toll) did ye take of men." Their friends amongst men

will say: "Our Lord! we made profit from each other: but (alas!) we reached our term - whichthou didst appoint for us." He will say: "The Fire be your dwelling-place: you will dwell

therein for ever, except as Allah willeth." for thy Lord is full of wisdom and knowledge. (S.6:126-128)

Here we see Allah, who is supposedly the speaker, refer to Allah in the third person ± i.e.

³thy Lord´, ³He´ ± and Allah even goes on to quote Allah who also refers to Allah in the

third person. Allah says: ³He will say: µThe Fire be your dwelling-place: you will dwell

therein for ever, except as Allah willeth.¶´ Since Allah says that Allah will tell some people

to dwell in the fire forever, except as Allah wills, how many Allahs are in view here?

Remarkably, Muslims look upon this sort of thing as something beautiful, an indication of thesurpassing eloquence and rhetorical genius of the Qur¶an, but it is actually a beautiful

example that the Qur¶an isn¶t what it claims to be: either it is not the revelation of a mono- personal deity or it is not the inimitable masterpiece they are taught to think it is.

Conclusion

In the course of surveying the use of divine plurals in the Qur¶an and critiquing the

explanations that have been offered for them, it has been found that Muslims have no way of

explaining them (or explaining them away) that is at once consistent with tawhid and/or other teachings of the Qur¶an (such as the claim that the Qur¶an is both clear and supremelyeloquent). It has also been shown that a possible explanation for where Muhammad picked up

this practice lies in the direction of his well-known penchant for undiscerningly borrowingfrom Jews and Christians, a view that appears every bit consistent with what is reported in the

S irah of Ibn Ishaq. While the above creates huge problems for Muslims, matters are all themore compounded when considered in conjunction with other peculiarities of the Qur¶an,

such as when Allah speaks of Allah or when Allah quotes Allah referring to Allah.



It can only be reasonably concluded from all of this that the teaching of the Qur¶an cannotclearly or consistently be set forth as a bulwark against the uni-plural nature of God in favor

of unitarianism.

Further Reading

For more on this general subject, both in relation to the Bible and the Qur¶an, see the

following articles:

y Let Us Make Man: A Trinitarian Interpretation of Genesis 1:26 (and Related

Passages)

y Let Us Make Man and the Cohortative Mood y The Plural of Majesty: Allah Is Neither Plural nor Majestic; or, How Modern

Muslims Have One-Upped Muhammad y The Qur¶an, Allah and Plurality Issues

____________________________________

My thanks to Jochen Katz, Sam Shamoun, Bassam Madany and Mutee¶a Al-Fadi for reading

this series and offering much in the way of constructive criticism (only some of which I

followed, leaving me solely responsible for any possible mistakes that may remain).

Footnotes1

For example calling Jesus God¶s Word and saying that He had the power to create life, allof which bespeak His essential Godhood.2

For the evidence of this, see the articles listed at the end of this paper.3

A. Guillaume, The Li fe of Muhammad: A T ran slat ion of I bn Ishaq¶ s S irat Ra sul Allah , p.270, 271-2724

This was/is not a teaching of Christianity in general or the Byzantine rite in particular.

Muhammad obviously misunderstood the Christians of Najran, a fact that should have been

(but was not) cleared up when Allah ³sent down´ the Qur¶an. Indeed, not only does Allah fail

to correct this error in the Qur¶an but he repeats it, once again showing that the measure of

Allah¶s knowledge was co-extensive with that of Muhammad¶s ignorance. What Muhammad

(and his companions) failed to understand correctly « Allah failed to understand correctly. It

is for this reason that many view the Quranic Allah to be nothing more than Muhammad¶s

alter ego, a projection of his own mind.

© Answering Islam, 1999 - 2011. All rights reserved.

Allah's Use of Plural Pronouns - By Anthony Rogers

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